Catalytic production of impurity-free V3.5+ electrolyte for vanadium redox flow batteries

The vanadium redox flow battery is considered one of the most promising candidates for use in large-scale energy storage systems. However, its commercialization has been hindered due to the high manufacturing cost of the vanadium electrolyte, which is currently prepared using a costly electrolysis m...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature communications 2019-09, Vol.10 (1), p.1-9, Article 4412
Main Authors: Heo, Jiyun, Han, Jae-Yun, Kim, Soohyun, Yuk, Seongmin, Choi, Chanyong, Kim, Riyul, Lee, Ju-Hyuk, Klassen, Andy, Ryi, Shin-Kun, Kim, Hee-Tak
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
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Batteries
Catalysts
Commercialization
Continuous production
Electrolysis
Electrolytes
Energy storage
Formic acid
Humanities and Social Sciences
Impurities
multidisciplinary
Organic chemistry
Production costs
Reactors
Rechargeable batteries
Reducing agents
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Storage systems
Vanadium
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Summary:The vanadium redox flow battery is considered one of the most promising candidates for use in large-scale energy storage systems. However, its commercialization has been hindered due to the high manufacturing cost of the vanadium electrolyte, which is currently prepared using a costly electrolysis method with limited productivity. In this work, we present a simpler method for chemical production of impurity-free V 3.5+ electrolyte by utilizing formic acid as a reducing agent and Pt/C as a catalyst. With the catalytic reduction of V 4+ electrolyte, a high quality V 3.5+ electrolyte was successfully produced and excellent cell performance was achieved. Based on the result, a prototype catalytic reactor employing Pt/C-decorated carbon felt was designed, and high-speed, continuous production of V 3.5+ electrolyte in this manner was demonstrated with the reactor. This invention offers a simple but practical strategy to reduce the production cost of V 3.5+ electrolyte while retaining quality that is adequate for high-performance operations. The vanadium redox flow battery is promising for commercial applications, but is hampered by high-cost electrolytes that are typically prepared via electrolysis. Here the authors demonstrate cost-effective chemical production of a high-quality vanadium electrolyte using platinum nanoparticles as a catalyst.
ISSN:2041-1723
2041-1723
DOI:10.1038/s41467-019-12363-7