Mass transfer behavior in electrode and battery performance analysis of organic flow battery

Abstract

Abstract The organic flow battery is one of most potential electrochemical energy storage technologies due to the huge potential and cheapness. The mass transfer performance is one of the main barriers to limit the development. The species distribution and transport process in the electrode is influenced by the geometric characteristic of electrode. A novel numerical model for the organic redox flow battery is built, and this model is verified by the experiments. The results show that the mass transfer and battery performances are influenced by the electrode thickness significantly. Taking the ohmic loss into consideration, the optimal electrode thickness is 1.5 mm. The rising of electrode channel depth significantly reduces the discharge voltage. When the channel depth is 4 mm, the uniformity factor is lowest. The rising of the initial concentration can promote the battery performance and uniformity factor. The positive active species concentration leads to the bigger influence. This work can contribute to the industrial application of the organic flow battery.