The erratic supply of green electricity necessitates large-scale storage to maintain the stability of the power grids. Since standard batteries are not good for scaling, the concept of using flow batteries that store energy in a liquid is appealing.
Schematic representation of a redox flow battery. The electrolyte solutions are pumped from storage tanks through an electrochemical cell where charge/discharge takes place. Image Credit: E. Otten, University of Groningen
However, these batteries comprise rare metals and are costly. Researchers at the University of Groningen, the Netherlands, have built a flow battery electrolyte that may resolve both issues. Their findings have been reported in the Journal of the American Chemical Society on 8th March.
Flow batteries are not so different from the batteries that people use on a daily basis. The main difference is that the energy is…