Coupling influences of electrode and flow field geometry on species transport behavior and battery performance for organic redox flow battery

Abstract

Abstract The organic redox flow battery (ORFB) was regarded as one of the promising commercial technologies for the large-scale energy storage, the battery performance of which was influenced by the electrodes and flow fields. The battery performance and mass transfer behaviors of four different electrodes (rectangular electrode with serpentine flow field (RS), rectangular electrode with rotary flow field (RR), circular electrode with serpentine flow field (CS), circular electrode with rotary flow field (CR)) were investigated based on a rigorous numerical model, which was verified by the experiments. The results showed that discharge voltages of RS design were highest and voltage of RS design was 24.3% higher than that of RR design, which was lowest. The uniformity factor of RS design was 13.2% higher than that of RR design. The average concentration of RS design was 4.5% higher than that of CS design. Therefore, RS design electrode was the best design due to high mass transfer performance. And performance superiorities of RS design were further highlighted by comparing voltage and concentration distribution of RS design and traditional serpentine flow field (TS). All above can enrich the research of mass transfer behavior in ORFB.