Vanadium redox battery: Positive half-cell electrolyte studies

Faizur Rahman*, Maria Skyllas-Kazacos

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

369 Scopus citations

Abstract

The vanadium redox battery (VRB) employs two "electrolyte tanks" that store energy in the form of the two vanadium redox couples and a cell "stack" where the charge/discharge reactions occur. To date, 2 M vanadium electrolyte have been successfully used in large demonstration projects for stationary applications. For mobile applications however, higher vanadium concentrations are required to reduce the size and weight of the battery. The main limitation for the vanadium electrolyte concentration and subsequently its energy density in the VRB is the thermal precipitation of the V(V) ion at elevated temperatures. In this paper optimization study of vanadium V(V) supersaturated solutions in terms of concentrations, temperature, and precipitation behavior are reported along with properties such as density and viscosity. It appears that 3.0-3.5 M V(V) solutions in 6 M total sulfate are sufficiently stable at temperatures up to 30 °C, although 2 M solutions are still required for operation at higher temperatures of about 40 °C.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1212-1219
Number of pages8
JournalJournal of Power Sources
Volume189
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - 15 Apr 2009

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This work was sponsored by the Australian Research Council. The authors acknowledge support from the Center of Research Excellence in Renewable Energy (MoHE), Research Institute, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia and The University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.

Keywords

  • Density
  • Electrochemical behavior
  • Electrolyte viscosity
  • Storage battery
  • Thermal precipitation
  • Vanadium redox battery

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment
  • Energy Engineering and Power Technology
  • Physical and Theoretical Chemistry
  • Electrical and Electronic Engineering

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