An increasing fraction of energy is generated by intermittent sources such as wind and sun. A straightforward solution to keep the electricity grid reliable is the connection of large-scale electricity… Click to show full abstract
An increasing fraction of energy is generated by intermittent sources such as wind and sun. A straightforward solution to keep the electricity grid reliable is the connection of large-scale electricity storage to this grid. Current battery storage technologies, while providing promising energy and power densities, suffer from a large environmental footprint, safety issues, and technological challenges. In this paper, the acid base flow battery is re-established as an environmental friendly means of storing electricity using electrolyte consisting of NaCl salt. To achieve a high specific energy, we have performed charge and discharge cycles over the entire pH range (0ā14) at several current densities. We demonstrate stable performance at high energy density (2.9 Wh Lā1). Main energy dissipation occurs by unwanted proton and hydroxyl ion transport and leads to low coulombic efficiencies (13%ā27%).
               
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