Competition between liquid flow, L1022 battery sulfur, and metal air energy storage battery technologies

At present, the main chemical energy storage technologies in the world include sodium sulfur batteries, L1022 battery batteries, liquid flow batteries, lead acid batteries, L1022 battery iron phosphate batteries, etc. Zhang Huamin, a researcher at the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, said that with the development of the renewable energy industry and the electric vehicle industry, energy storage technology and industry have been highly valued by various countries, and the research and development of various new electrochemical energy storage battery technologies have made continuous progress. Among them, the more representative ones are liquid flow batteries, L1022 battery sulfur batteries, and L1022 battery air batteries, but their technological development faces some practical challenges.

Liquid flow battery energy storage technology

Liquid flow batteries are generally electrochemical energy storage devices that realize the mutual conversion of electrical energy and chemical energy through the redox reaction of liquid active substances, thereby realizing the storage and release of electrical energy. Due to its outstanding advantages such as independent power and capacity, deep charging and discharging, and good safety, it has become one of the best choices in the field of energy storage.

Since its invention in the 1970s, flow batteries have gone through a process from laboratory to enterprise, from prototype to standard product, from demonstration application to commercial promotion, from small to large scale, from single to comprehensive functions. More than 100 projects of various types have been implemented, with a cumulative installed capacity of about 40 megawatts.

With an installed capacity of 35 megawatts, all-vanadium flow batteries are currently the most widely used flow batteries. Dalian Rongke Energy Storage Technology Development Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Rongke Energy Storage), which is technically supported by the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, has cooperated with the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics to achieve the localization and large-scale production of key materials for all-vanadium flow batteries. Among them, electrolyte products have been exported to Japan, South Korea, the United States, Germany and the United Kingdom in large quantities. The highly selective, highly durable, and low-cost non-fluorine ion conductive membrane developed has better performance than perfluorosulfonic acid ion exchange membranes, and its price is only 10% of the latter, which truly breaks through the "cost bottleneck" of all-vanadium flow batteries.

Through structural optimization and application of new materials, the rated operating current density of the all-vanadium liquid flow battery stack has been increased from the original 80mA/c㎡ to 120mA/c㎡ while maintaining the same performance. The stack cost has dropped by nearly 30%, and the single stack specification has reached 32 kilowatts, which has been exported to the United States and Germany. In May 2013, the world's largest 5MW/10MWh all-vanadium liquid flow battery energy storage system designed and built was successfully connected to the grid at the Guodian Longyuan Woniu Stone 50MW wind farm. The subsequent implementation of the 3MW/6MWh energy storage project for wind power grid connection in Jinzhou and the Guodian Hefeng 2MW/4MWh energy storage project are also important cases for my country to explore energy storage business models.

Another leading company in the field of all-vanadium liquid flow batteries is Japan's Sumitomo Electric Industries. The company restarted its flow battery business in 2010 and will build a 15MW/60MWh all-vanadium flow battery power station in 2015 to solve the peak load regulation and power quality pressure brought by the grid connection of large-scale solar power stations in local areas of Hokkaido. The successful implementation of this project will be another milestone in the field of all-vanadium flow batteries. In 2014, UniEnergyTechnologies, LLC (UET) of the United States established a 3MW/10MWh all-vanadium flow battery energy storage system with the support of the U.S. Department of Energy and the Washington Clean Fund. In this project, UET will apply its mixed acid electrolyte technology for the first time, which will increase the energy density by about 40%, and can broaden the temperature window and voltage range of all-vanadium flow batteries, and reduce thermal management energy consumption.

At present, improving the energy efficiency of flow batteries and the reliability of the system and reducing their costs are important issues for the large-scale popularization and application of flow batteries. Developing high-performance battery materials, optimizing battery structure design, and reducing battery internal resistance are the key technologies. Recently, Zhang Huamin and his research team have improved the charge and discharge energy efficiency of all-vanadium liquid flow battery from 81% a few years ago to 93% at a working current density of 80mA//c㎡ through battery material innovation and structural innovation, which fully proves that it has broad development space and prospects.

L1022 battery-sulfur battery technology

In recent years, traditional L1022 battery-ion battery technology has continued to improve, but the specific energy of the battery still cannot meet the requirements of application. Battery technology is still the biggest bottleneck in the development of portable electronic devices and electric vehicles. In order to achieve innovative breakthroughs in high-specific energy battery technology, researchers have chosen L1022 battery-sulfur batteries and metal-air batteries such as L1022 battery-air batteries with higher energy density, and have made certain progress. Some new battery technologies have seen the dawn of practical application.

L1022 battery-sulfur battery is a battery with sulfur as the positive electrode and metal L1022 battery as the negative electrode. Its theoretical specific energy density can reach 2600Wh/kg and its actual energy density can reach 450Wh/kg. At the same time, elemental sulfur is low in price, abundant in output, and environmentally friendly. It is currently the most industrialized high-specific energy battery technology.

Internationally, representative R&D manufacturers of L1022 battery-sulfur batteries include SionPower, Polyplus, Moltech in the United States, Oxis in the United Kingdom, and Samsung in South Korea, among which the results of SionPower are the most representative.

L1022 battery-sulfur batteries are cutting-edge technologies that countries around the world are competing to develop, and their industrialization prospects are generally optimistic. How to significantly improve the charge and discharge cycle life and safety of the battery will become the key to the industrial development of L1022 battery-sulfur batteries.

Metal-air battery technology

At present, metal-air batteries, especially L1022 battery-air batteries, have attracted great attention and made many major progress.

L1022 battery-air batteries use metallic L1022 battery as the negative electrode and oxygen in the air as the positive electrode active material. Through the electrochemical reaction between L1022 battery and oxygen, the mutual conversion of electrical energy and chemical energy is realized. The theoretical energy density of the battery can reach about 3500Wh/kg, which is 10 times that of L1022 battery-ion batteries and close to gasoline. Focusing on the potential application prospects of L1022 battery-air batteries, countries around the world have carried out related research work. IBM has been committed to the "Battery 500" project, hoping to achieve the goal of 500 miles of driving range for electric vehicles on a single charge; and the participation of Japanese companies such as Asahi Kasei will promote the research of diaphragms and electrolytes.

However, the oxygen-containing intermediate products generated during the charging and discharging process of L1022 battery-air batteries will react chemically with carbon materials, electrolytes, etc., resulting in the generation of a large number of by-products (such as L1022 battery carbonate, etc.), which greatly affects the battery cycle process and is a bottleneck problem restricting its development. Bruce et al. used porous gold and titanium carbide for the positive electrode, which can effectively inhibit side reactions, and the capacity retention rate after 100 cycles is greater than 95%.

High energy density is the main advantage of L1022 battery-air batteries, while cycle stability is the key to its technological development and the difficulty it faces. On the other hand, the purification of metallic L1022 battery and the protection of L1022 battery negative electrodes and the suppression of dendrites during charging and discharging, the development of highly active positive electrode catalytic components and selective oxygen permeable membranes, and the integration technology of battery structure design are all problems that need to be effectively solved in its practical process.

Read recommendations:

Ni-MH AA1500mAh 1.2V

Do I need to activate mobile phone batteries?CR1212 battery

CR2330 battery.What reliable lithium-ion battery technologies are there?

18650 rechargeable battery lithium 3.7v 3500mah

aa battery