Effects of Structured 3D Electrodes on the Performance of Redox Flow Batteries

Abstract

AbstractIn recent years, the interest in redox flow batteries as stationary energy storage devices is growing, for which disordered three‐dimensional electrodes such as felts have been the state‐of‐the‐art due to their large surface area and improved mass transfer properties. However, such electrodes present a high pressure drop and operating cost. In this work, the performance of structured three‐dimensional electrodes in a redox flow battery was studied. Compared to the carbon felt electrode similar electrochemical behaviour was demonstrated with these structured electrodes, which were based on the most common static mixer designs, but at a power consumption that was two to three orders of magnitude lower. Moreover, due to its ordered electrode design unwanted side reactions were suppressed. Consequently, these results demonstrate the influence of structured static mixer based three‐dimensional electrodes in redox flow batteries and the opportunities they hold to surpass the current state‐of‐the‐art.