Flow-Field Geometry Effect on –Iron Redox Flow Battery
Publication: Journal of Energy Engineering
Volume 146, Issue 6
Abstract
The redox flow battery is getting intense attention these days as one of the most promising systems to store energy generated from weather-dependent renewable energy sources such as solar and wind energies. In this research, the geometry-related performance of the hydrogen–iron redox flow battery is analyzed with five different flow-field geometries (parallel, serpentine, crisscross, interdigitated, and porous) to determine the best geometry leading to the maximum cell power and fuel efficiency. Diffusion-dominant flow-by mode, convection-dominant flow-through mode, and the hybrid combining both modes are investigated in detail to understand the characteristic transport modes of reactive species and underlying flow physics. In particular, the effects of the flow geometries are analyzed with respect to system-based as well as cell-based performance. It is found that the best net power gain is achieved from the porous flow field, which has excellent fuel utilization and cell power with a low electrolyte supply rate.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Data Availability Statement
All data, models, and code generated or used during the study appear in the published article.
Acknowledgments
This study is supported by the Undergraduate Special Opportunities in Artistry and Research (USOAR) grant (2015) of Northern Illinois University.
References
Akuzum, B., Y. C. Alparslan, N. C. Robinson, E. Agar, and E. C. Kumbur. 2019. “Obstructed flow field designs for improved performance in vanadium redox flow batteries.” J. Appl. Electrochem. 49 (6): 551–561. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10800-019-01306-1.
Alon, M., A. Blum, and E. Peled. 2013. “Feasibility study of hydrogen/iron redox flow cell for grid-storage applications.” J. Power Sources 240 (Oct): 417–420. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpowsour.2013.04.032.
Bard, A. J., and L. R. Faulkner. 2001. Electrochemical methods: Fundamentals and applications. New York: Wiley.
Çengel, Y. A., and J. M. Cimbala. 2018. Fluid mechanics: Fundamentals and applications. New York: McGraw-Hill Education.
Chen, Y.-W. D., K. S. V. Santhanam, and A. J. Bard. 1981. “Solution redox couples for electrochemical energy storage: I. Iron (III)-Iron (II) complexes with o-phenanthroline and related ligands.” J. Electrochem. Soc. 128 (7): 1460. https://doi.org/10.1149/1.2127663.
Cho, K. T., P. Ridgway, A. Z. Weber, S. Haussener, V. Battaglia, and V. Srinivasan. 2012. “High performance hydrogen/bromine redox flow battery for grid-scale energy storage.” J. Electrochem. Soc. 159 (11): A1806–A1815. https://doi.org/10.1149/2.018211jes.
Cho, K. T., M. C. Tucker, and A. Z. Weber. 2016. “A review of hydrogen/halogen flow cells.” Energy Technol. 4 (6): 655–678. https://doi.org/10.1002/ente.201500449.
Cussler, E. L. 2009. Diffusion: Mass transfer in fluid systems. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Dennison, C. R., E. Agar, B. Akuzum, and E. C. Kumbur. 2016. “Enhancing mass transport in redox flow batteries by tailoring flow field and electrode design.” J. Electrochem. Soc. 163 (1): A5163–A5169. https://doi.org/10.1149/2.0231601jes.
Gong, K., F. Xu, J. B. Grunewald, X. Ma, Y. Zhao, S. Gu, and Y. Yan. 2016. “All-soluble all-iron aqueous redox-flow battery.” ACS Energy Lett. 1 (1): 89–93. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsenergylett.6b00049.
Houser, J., A. Pezeshki, J. T. Clement, D. Aaron, and M. M. Mench. 2017. “Architecture for improved mass transport and system performance in redox flow batteries.” J. Power Sources 351 (May): 96–105. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpowsour.2017.03.083.
Ke, X., J. I. D. Alexander, J. M. Prahl, and R. F. Savinell. 2014. “Flow distribution and maximum current density studies in redox flow batteries with a single passage of the serpentine flow channel.” J. Power Sources 270 (Dec): 646–657. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpowsour.2014.07.155.
Ke, X., J. I. D. Alexander, J. M. Prahl, and R. F. Savinell. 2015. “A simple analytical model of coupled single flow channel over porous electrode in vanadium redox flow battery with serpentine flow channel.” J. Power Sources 288 (Aug): 308–313. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpowsour.2015.04.138.
Ke, X., J. M. Prahl, J. I. D. Alexander, and R. F. Savinell. 2017. “Mathematical modeling of electrolyte flow in a segment of flow channel over porous electrode layered system in vanadium flow battery with flow field design.” Electrochim. Acta 223 (Jan): 124–134. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.electacta.2016.12.017.
Ke, X., J. M. Prahl, J. I. D. Alexander, and R. F. Savinell. 2018a. “Redox flow batteries with serpentine flow fields: Distributions of electrolyte flow reactant penetration into the porous carbon electrodes and effects on performance.” J. Power Sources 384 (Apr): 295–302. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpowsour.2018.03.001.
Ke, X., J. M. Prahl, J. I. D. Alexander, J. S. Wainright, T. A. Zawodzinski, and R. F. Savinell. 2018b. “Rechargeable redox flow batteries: Flow fields, stacks and design considerations.” Chem. Soc. Rev. 47 (23): 8721–8743. https://doi.org/10.1039/C8CS00072G.
Knudsen, E., P. Albertus, K. T. Cho, A. Z. Weber, and A. Kojic. 2015. “Flow simulation and analysis of high-power flow batteries.” J. Power Sources 299 (Dec): 617–628. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpowsour.2015.08.041.
Marma, K., J. Kolli, and K. T. Cho. 2018. “Membrane-less hydrogen iron redox flow battery.” J. Electrochem. Energy Convers. Storage 16 (1): 011005. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4040329.
Maurya, S., P. T. Nguyen, Y. S. Kim, Q. Kang, and R. Mukundan. 2018. “Effect of flow field geometry on operating current density, capacity and performance of vanadium redox flow battery.” J. Power Sources 404 (Nov): 20–27. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpowsour.2018.09.093.
Messaggi, M., P. Canzi, R. Mereu, A. Baricci, F. Inzoli, A. Casalegno, and M. Zago. 2018. “Analysis of flow field design on vanadium redox flow battery performance: Development of 3D computational fluid dynamic model and experimental validation.” Appl. Energy 228 (Oct): 1057–1070. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2018.06.148.
Newman, J. S., and K. E. Thomas-Alyea. 2004. Electrochemical systems. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Nguyen, T., and R. F. Savinell. 2010. “Flow batteries.” Electrochem. Soc. Interface 19 (3): 54–56. https://doi.org/10.1149/2.F06103if.
Sun, J., M. Zheng, Z. Yang, and Z. Yu. 2019. “Flow field design pathways from lab-scale toward large-scale flow batteries.” Energy 173 (Apr): 637–646. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2019.02.107.
Tucker, M. C., K. T. Cho, and A. Z. Weber. 2014. “Optimization of the iron-ion/hydrogen redox flow cell with iron chloride catholyte salt.” J. Power Sources 245 (Jan): 691–697. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpowsour.2013.07.029.
Tucker, M. C., V. Srinivasan, P. N. Ross, and A. Z. Weber. 2013. “Performance and cycling of the iron-ion/hydrogen redox flow cell with various catholyte salts.” J. Appl. Electrochem. 43 (7): 637–644. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10800-013-0553-2.
Wang, Q., Z. G. Qu, Z. Y. Jiang, and W. W. Yang. 2018. “Numerical study on vanadium redox flow battery performance with non-uniformly compressed electrode and serpentine flow field.” Appl. Energy 220 (Jun): 106–116. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2018.03.058.
Weber, A. Z., M. M. Mench, J. P. Meyers, P. N. Ross, J. T. Gostick, and Q. Liu. 2011. “Redox flow batteries: A review.” J. Appl. Electrochem. 41 (10): 1137. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10800-011-0348-2.
Wood, D. L., J. S. Yi, and T. V. Nguyen. 1998. “Effect of direct liquid water injection and interdigitated flow field on the performance of proton exchange membrane fuel cells.” Electrochim. Acta 43 (24): 3795–3809. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0013-4686(98)00139-X.
Xu, Q., T. S. Zhao, and P. K. Leung. 2013. “Numerical investigations of flow field designs for vanadium redox flow batteries.” Appl. Energy 105 (May): 47–56. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2012.12.041.
You, X., Q. Ye, T. V. Nguyen, and P. Cheng. 2015. “2-D model of a flow battery with flow-through positive electrode.” J. Electrochem. Soc. 163 (3): A447. https://doi.org/10.1149/2.0361603jes.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
© 2020 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Apr 2, 2020
Accepted: Jun 8, 2020
Published online: Sep 7, 2020
Published in print: Dec 1, 2020
Discussion open until: Feb 7, 2021
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.