Flow Batteries

by Trung Nguyen and Robert F. Savinell

enewable energy sources including

wind and solar can supply a
significant amount of electrical
energy in the United States and around
the world. However, because of their
intermittent nature, the potential of
these two energy sources can be fully
exploited only if efficient, safe, and
reliable electrical energy storage (EES)
systems are provided. EES will also be
critical to improving the robustness
and efficiency of the grid by reducing
power surges and balancing the load
over time. A recent report from Sandia
identifies over 17 major opportunities of
EES to make an impact on the U.S. grid
and implementation of renewables.1 For
very large energy storage applications,
only pumped hydro and compressed
gas are cost effective at this time. These
technologies, however, are limited
by geography, while electrochemical
energy storage devices such as
batteries, fuel cells/flow batteries, and
electrochemical capacitors are among
the leading EES technologies for the
future because of their scale-ability
and versatility. Their power and energy
density characteristics are shown in
Fig. 1.2 Capacitors, with their very high
power densities, low energy densities,
and sub-second response times, are more
suitable for power quality management.
Batteries and flow batteries/fuel cells
have the energy densities needed for
large-scale electrical energy storage.

Batteries and flow batteries/fuel cells

differ in two main aspects. First, in a
battery, the electro-active materials are
stored internally, and the electrodes at
which the energy conversion reactions
occur are themselves part of the
electrochemical fuel. The characteristics
of the negative and positive electrodes
determine both the power density
(e.g., electrical, transport, and catalytic
properties of the active material and
non-reactive materials) and the energy
density (e.g., mass of active materials)
of the battery. As a battery converts its
chemical energy to electrical energy,
electrodes are consumed and undergo
significant physical and chemical
changes which affect its electrical
performance. Second, because of
the dual functions of the electrodes
described above, a conventional battery
has minimal or no scale-up advantages.
Instead, it can only be scaled-out.
That is, if more energy is needed, then
more battery modules with identical
components are required. As the amount
of electro-active materials increases
in a battery, more current collecting
materials, electrolyte, separators, and
enclosure materials are also needed.
Consequently, a battery can never
approach its theoretical energy density.
Furthermore, increasing the capacity
of a battery almost always increases
internal resistances and consequently
decreases power density and efficiency.

Fig. 1. Power and energy densities of various EES systems.

54

Flow Batteries Classification

A flow battery is an electrochemical
device that converts the chemical
energy in the electro-active materials
directly to electrical energy, similar to a
conventional battery and fuel cells. The
electro-active materials in a flow battery,
however, are stored mostly externally
in an electrolyte and are introduced
into the device only during operation.3
True flow batteries have all the reactants
and products of the electro-active
chemicals stored external to the power
conversion device. Systems in which all
the electro-active materials are dissolved
in a liquid electrolyte are called redox
(for reduction/oxidation) flow batteries
(RFBs). A schematic of a redox flow
battery system is shown in Fig. 2.
Other true flow batteries might have a
gas species (e.g., hydrogen, chlorine)
and liquid species (e.g., bromine).
Rechargeable fuel cells like H2-Br2 and
H2-Cl2 could be thought of as true
flow batteries. Systems in which one
or more electro-active components are
stored internally are called hybrid flow
batteries. Examples include the zinc
bromine and zincchlorine batteries.
Similarly to conventional batteries, the
energy densities of these hybrid flow
batteries are limited by the amount
of electro-active materials that can be
stored within the batteries and they
have limited scale-up advantages. Table
I shows some of the more well-known
flow battery systems. Although much
flow battery research dates back to the
1970s, some research has continued
over the past several decades and the
state-of-the art has been reviewed in the
recent literature.4
Most redox flow batteries consist
of two separate electrolytes, one
storing the electro-active materials for
the negative electrode reactions and
the other for the positive electrode
reactions. (To prevent confusion, the
negative electrode is the anode and the
positive electrode is the cathode during
discharge. It is understood that they
will be reversed during charge.) Both
the fresh and spent electrolytes may be
circulated and stored in a single storage
tank as shown in Fig. 2 or separately
to control the concentrations of the
electro-active material. An ion selective
membrane is often used to prevent
mixing or cross-over of the electroactive species which result in chemical
short-circuit of electro-active materials.
Only the common counter ion carrier
is allowed to cross the membrane. For
example, in the bromine-polysulfide
system, as Na2S2 is converted to Na2S4 at
The Electrochemical Society Interface Fall 2010

the anode and Br2 is converted to 2Br- at

the cathode, the excess Na+ ions at the
anode are allowed to cross to the cathode
to maintain electroneutrality condition.
Similarly, in the vanadium system, as
V+2 is oxidized to V+3 at the anode and
V+5 is reduced to V+4 at the cathode,
hydronium ions are transported across
a proton conducting membrane from
the anode to the cathode. In this case,
however, sometimes a microporous
non-selective membrane separator can
be used since most of the current might
be carried by high mobility protons in
the acid electrolyte and since the crossover of the common vanadium cation
lowers efficiency but does not cause
a permanent loss of capacity. (Note:
the distinction of the flow electrolyte
does not take into account the fixed
electrolyte within the membrane
separator of many flow batteries.)
A fuel cell might be considered as a
type of flow battery in that the power
conversion component is independent
of the chemical energy capacity of the
device. Most fuel cells, however, cannot
be reversed electrically efficiently, and
therefore cannot be used effectively as
an electrical energy storage device; so
they are considered as a chemical energy
conversion device only.

Advantages and Disadvantages

With the electrolyte and electroactive materials stored externally, true
flow batteries have many advantages,
one of which is the separation of
the power and energy requirements.
The electrodes, not being part of the
electrochemical fuel, can be designed
to have optimal power acceptance
and delivery properties (e.g., catalytic,
electrical, and transport) without the
need to also maximize energy storage
density. Furthermore, the electrodes
do not undergo physical and chemical
changes during operation (because
they do not contain active materials),
thus leading to more stable and durable
performance. Therefore, engineered
microstructures developed to optimize
performance can be maintained over
the lifetime of the device: with longer
lifetimes, the capital costs of the battery
system can be amortized over a longer
period, and with a wider state-of-charge
operating window, the quantity of active
material required to deliver power over
the entire required duration of discharge
can be minimized.
The energy capacity requirement of
a flow battery is addressed by the size
of the external storage components.
Consequently, a redox flow battery
system could approach its theoretical
energy density as the system is scaled
up to a point where the weight or
volume of the battery is small relative
to that of the stored fuel and oxidant.
A conventional analogous system is
the internal combustion engine system
in which the power is determined by
The Electrochemical Society Interface Fall 2010

Table I. Characteristics of Some Flow Battery Systems.

System

Ecell o

Reactions

Redox
All Vanadium 3

Anode: V2+

V3+ + e-

Cathode: VO2+ + eVanadiumPolyhalide 5

Anode: V2+

Anode: 2 S22-

V3+ + e-

Anode: Fe2+

S42- + 2e-

Anode: H2

1.3 V

VCl3-HCl/NaBrHCl

1.5 V

NaS2/NaBr

1.2 V

HCl/HCl

1.1 V

PEM*- HBr

1.8 V

ZnBr2/ZnBr2

2.4 V

CH3SO3H

2 BrFe3+ + e-

Cathode: Cr3+ + eH2-Br2 8

H2SO4/H2SO4

Br-

Cathode: Br2 + 2eIron-Chromium 7

1.4 V
VO2+

Cathode: Br2 + eBrominePolysulfide 6

Electrolyte
Anode/Cathode

Cr2+
2H+ + 2e2Br-

Cathode: Br2 + 2eHybrid

Zinc-Bromine

Anode: Zn

Zn2+ + 2e2 Br-

Cathode: Br2 + 2eZinc-Cerium 9

Anode: Zn

Zn2+ + 2e-

Cathode: 2Ce4+ + 2e*Polymer Electrolyte Membrane

the size of the engine and the energy

density is determined by the size of the
fuel tank.
In a flow battery there is inherent safety
of storing the active materials separately
from the reactive point source. Other
advantages are quick response times
(common to all battery systems), high
electricity-to-electricity
conversion
efficiency, no cell-to-cell equalization
requirement, simple state-of-charge
indication (based on electro-active
concentrations),
low
maintenance,
tolerance to overcharge and overdischarge, and perhaps most importantly,
the ability for deep discharges without
affecting cycle life. The hybrid systems
like those involving zinc plating do not
offer all these advantages, but still have
many of the desirable features of a true
flow battery. The main disadvantage of
flow batteries is their more complicated
system requirements of pumps, sensors,
flow and power management, and
secondary containment vessels, thus
making them more suitable for largescale storage applications.
If one examines the vanadium flow
battery system, one of the few redox
flow batteries that has been tested at
the utility scale, one estimates that
the vanadium itself is a significant
cost driver: cost analysis suggests that
the vanadium material contributes
between $50/kWh to $110/kWh at

2Ce3+

(both sides)

PEM*

current vanadium prices, or from 50

to 100 percent of the aforementioned
cost target of $100-200/kWh. From
this standpoint, identifying low-cost
redox couples with high solubility is
critical to meeting the ultimate market
requirements.
The other key cost driver is the
construction of the electrochemical cell
itself. The construction costs of the cell
scale with the total power requirement
of the application, but these costs are
directly rated to the specific power
of the device itselfhow effectively
the materials are utilized. While flow
batteries ought to be able to operate
at relatively high current densities, as
convection can be employed to deliver
reactants to the electrode surface, flow
batteries have typically been operated
at ~50 mA/cm2, a current density
consistent with conventional batteries
without convection. It is anticipated that
electrolyte management and cell design
can deliver at least a 5x improvement
in power density, thereby reducing cell
construction costs by close to that same
factor of 5.

Current Technical Barriers

Only a few flow battery systems have
seen deployment. Consequently, the
technologies are relatively new and
unfamiliar. Further development will
55

Nguyen and Savinell

(continued from previous page)

Power Sources
(Wind/Solar)

Customers
Charge

Discharge

AC/DC Converter

Cathode: N+y + ne N+ (y-n)

Porous Electrode

Ion Selective Membrane

Porous Electrode

Anode: M+x M+(x+n) + ne-

Negative
Electrolyte
Storage

Positive
Electrolyte
Storage

4. C. Ponce de Leon, A. Frias-Ferrer, J.

Gonzalez-Garcia, D. A. Szanto, and
F. C. Walsh, J. Power Sources, 160,
716 (2006).
5. M. Skyllas-Kazacos, J. Power Sources,
124, 299 (2003).
6. Comparison of Storage Technologies for Distributed Resource
Applications, EPRI, Palo Alto, CA,
2003.1007301.
7. M. Lopez-Atalaya, G. Codina, J. R.
Perez, J. L. Vazquez, and A. Aldaz,
J. Power Sources, 39, 147 (1991).
8. V. Livshits, A. Ulus, and E. Peled,
Electrochem. Commun., 8, 1358
(2006).
9. R. Clarke, B. Dougherty, S. Mohanta,
and S. Harrison, Abstract 520, 2004
Joint International Meeting: 206th
Meeting of The Electrochemical
Society/2004 Fall Meeting of the
Electrochemical Society of Japan,
Honolulu, Hawaii, October 3-8,
2004.
10. F. Q. Xue, Y. L. Wang, W. H. Wang,
and X. D. Wang, Electrochim. Acta,
53, 6636 (2008).
11. M. Skyllaskazacos and F. Grossmith,
J. Electrochem. Soc., 134, 2950
(1987).

Fig. 2. Schematic of a redox flow battery system with electrodes shown in a discharge mode.

require research activities in the following

areas: (1.) low-cost, efficient, and
durable electrodes; (2.) chemically stable
redox couples, having large potential
differences, with high solubilities of
both oxidized and reduced species,
and fast redox kinetics; (3.) highly
permselective and durable membranes;
(4.) electrode structure and cell design
that minimize transport losses; (5.)
designs with minimal pumping and
shunt current losses; and (6.) large scale
power and system management and
grid integration. Overall, the primary
barriers to commercialization for large
scale energy storage are round trip
energy storage efficiency, cost for energy
storage in terms of $/kwh, and cost for
the power capacity in terms of $/kw.

About the Authors

Trung Nguyen is a full professor in the
Department of Chemical and Petroleum
Engineering at The University of Kansas.
He has over 22 years of both industrial
and academic experience in fuel cell and
battery technology, and has research
activities that span from fundamentals
to devices to systems aspects. His current
research interest is in interfacial and
56

transport phenomena in fuel cells and

batteries, and mathematical modeling
of electrochemical systems. He may be
reached at [email protected].
Robert F. Savinell is the George S.
Dively Professor of Engineering at
Case Western Reserve University in
Cleveland, Ohio. His research interests
include understanding electrocatalysis,
mass transfer, and interfacial processes
in
electrochemical
systems,
and
applications of this knowledge to device
improvement and development. He
may be reached at [email protected].

References
1. J. Eyer and G. Corey, Energy
Storage for the Electricity Grid:
Benefits and Market Potential
Assessment Guide, Sandia Report
SAND2010-0815 (Feb. 2010).
2. Basic Research Needs for Electrical
Energy Storage, Report of the DOE
Basic Energy Sciences Workshop
on Electrical Energy Storage (April
2-4, 2007).
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_
battery.

The Electrochemical Society Interface Fall 2010