There exists a long-felt need for safe, inexpensive, easy-to-use, and reliable technologies for energy storage. Large scale energy storage enables diversification of energy supply and optimization of the energy grid. Existing renewable-energy systems (e.g., solar- and wind-based systems) enjoy increasing prominence as energy producers explore non-fossil fuel energy sources, however storage is required to ensure a high quality energy supply when sunlight is not available and when wind does not blow.
Flow battery energy storage systems have been proposed for large-scale energy storage. But existing storage systems suffer from a variety of performance and cost limitations, including, for example, system scalability, round trip energy efficiencies (RTEff), cycle life, and other areas.
Despite significant development effort, no flow battery technology has yet achieved widespread commercial adoption, owing to the materials and engineering hurdles that make system economics unfavorable. Accordingly, there is a need in the art for improved flow batteries.