All-Vanadium Dual Circuit Redox Flow Battery for Renewable Hydrogen Generation and Desulfurisation

An all-vanadium dual circuit redox flow battery is an electrochemical energy storage system capable to function as a conventional battery, but also to produce hydrogen and perform desulfurization when surplus of electricity is available by chemical discharge of the battery electrolytes. The hydrogen reactor chemically discharging the negative electrolyte has been designed and scaled up to kW scale, while different options to discharge the positive electrolyte have been evaluated, including oxidation of hydrazine, SO2 and H2S. The system is well suited to convert sulfur dioxide and hydrogen sulfide to harmless compounds while producing hydrogen, with overall system efficiencies from 50 to 70 % for hydrogen production.

Redox dual-flow battery for combined electricity storage and hydrogen production

Danick Reynard

The energy transition towards a carbon-neutral and sustainable economy is one of the greatest challenges of the 21st century to combat global warming and pollution. The decarbonization process is affecting every sector of the economy (electricity, transportation, industrialâŠ). For power generation, renewable energy resources are realistic alternatives to replace fossil resources such as gas and coal. However, the intermittent nature of wind and solar power limits their penetration into the conventional grid and increases the need for energy storage (battery, hydrogen storageâŠ) for smoothing out fluctuations between electric supply and demand. In this context, the concept of the redox dual-flow battery was introduced to propose a hybrid storage solution that can store electrical energy both electrochemically and in the form of hydrogen fuel. The system differs from a traditional redox flow battery by including a secondary energy platform, in which the electrolytes can be discharged chemically in external catalytic reactors through redox-mediated water electrolysis to produce clean hydrogen. The dual storage feature improves the flexibility and enhances significantly the capacity of the system by storing energy beyond the capacity of the electrolytes in the form of hydrogen. Additionally, the redox-mediated water electrolysis offers several advantages over conventional electrolysis in terms of safety, durability and purity. In this thesis, the proof-of-concept of a dual-flow circuit using a vanadium-manganese redox flow battery for combined electricity storage and hydrogen production is demonstrated. The redox flow battery employs vanadium sulfate (V3+/V2+) and manganese sulfate (Mn3+/Mn2+) dissolved in concentrated sulfuric aqueous solution as negative and positive electrolyte, respectively. The galvanic cell achieves energy efficiency of 68% at a current density of 50 mAÂ·cmâ2 (cell voltage =1.92 V) and a relative battery energy density 45% higher than the conventional all-vanadium RFB in the same conditions. Once charged, the electrolytes can be spontaneously discharged through redox-mediated oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in RuO2 and Mo2C catalytic reactors, resulting in an energy consumption for hydrogen production of ca. 50 kWh/kg H2. The system provides a competitive alternative for large-scale energy storage in renewable energy and transport applications.

EPFL2022

Redox flow battery and indirect water electrolysis

Véronique Amstutz

The progressive integration of renewable energy sources such as wind turbines and photovoltaic pannels in the current electrical network, and the rise of the electrical mobility, provoke a change of paradigm in the sector of energy management. The increasing variability of the electricity production and consumption profiles, together with the requirement for a reliable supply of energy, necessitates the implementation of energy storage means of different scales and for a wide range of applications. Redox flow batteries (RFBs) are well adapted for buffering the fluctuations of solar or wind energy production. They present a fast response time, can withstand a large number of charge-discharge cycles and their ouput power is independant of their energy capacity. The main limitation of RFBs resides in their low energy density. The objective of the present work was to test a mean to overcome this low energy density. A new concept was developed, which rests on the addition of a second pathway to discharge the RFB. This pathway allows to generate hydrogen and oxygen, without affecting the functioning of the RFB. This concept was called dual-circuit RFB and was patented. RFBs are based on two liquids electrolytes, each stored in a reservoir, and flowing through an electrochemical cell for their electrochemical conversion. Each electrolyte contains one redox couple and Ce(IV)/Ce(III) and V(III)/V(II) were selected as positive and negative redox couples in the RFB developed here. Charge-discharge curves of a VâCe RFB were measured for characterisation purposes and for the preparation of the charged electrolytes. The latter ones can be discharged electrochemically in the RFB to generate electricity (electrochemical discharge mode), or they can be directed in a secondary circuit where they are discharged for the production of hydrogen or oxygen (chemical discharge mode). The chemical discharge of the negative electrolyte consists of the reaction of V(II) with protons to produce hydrogen and V(III). Mo2C was selected as heterogenous catalyst for the characterisation of the reaction. A conversion close to 100% suggested no loss of current. A kinetic analysis provided some insights into the catalytic mechanism of this reaction. The chemical discharge of the positive electrolyte aimed at the conversion of Ce(IV) to Ce(III) by the oxidation of water to oxygen and also necessitates a catalyst. Iridium dioxide (IrO2) and ruthenium dioxide (RuO2) were evaluated in terms of conversion and kinetics. The composition of the positive electrolyte was shown to be of importance for this reaction. To show the feasibility of this concept, a larger-scale demonstrator system was designed based on a 10 kW (40kWh) commercially available vanadium RFB. A characterisation of this RFB was first performed. The design a suitable Mo2C catalyst and its corresponding catalytic bed is also discussed. As a conclusion, the concept developed and experimentally tested in the present work leads to a RFB system which is characterised by two discharge modes, increasing its energy storage capacity and energy density. The dual-circuit RFB also represents a crossing between electrical grid and hydrogen mobility as the hydrogen produced by surplus electricity could be delivered to fuel cell cars. The application of this system in a local distribution electrical network, close to a wind or solar source seems a promising approach.

EPFL2015

Solar-driven reduction of CO₂

Marcel Roland Schreier

Rapidly increasing levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide and their damaging impact on the global climate system raise doubts about the sustainability of the fossil resource based energy system. Meanwhile, raising living standards and increasing global population lead to an ever growing need for energy. Renewable energy sources are believed to present a solution to these problems with the sheer abundance of solar energy showing particular promise to fulfill the world's energy needs. However, for large scale application of solar energy to be possible, the problem of its storage has to be addressed. The insufficient flexibility of present-day storage technologies has led to the quest for producing solar fuels, centering on hydrogen as a fuel in a prospective hydrogen economy. Nevertheless, the gaseous state, low volumetric energy density and explosive nature of hydrogen makes it a challenging fuel for practical applications. Using solar energy to produce carbon-based liquid fuels solves these challenges, closes the anthropogenic carbon cycle and allows for the continued utilization of existing infrastructures. A promising method for the production of such fuels consists in the photoelectrochemical and electrochemical conversion of carbon dioxide. In this thesis, both methods are investigated using molecular homogeneous catalysts and heterogeneous systems. The photoelectrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide on TiO2-protected Cu2O photocathodes was investigated using a rhenium bipyridyl catalyst in solution. Important charge transport limitations were encountered, which could be overcome by the addition of protic additives to the electrolyte. Improving on this result, the molecular catalyst was covalently immobilized on the TiO2 surface of the photocathode by modifying the bipyridyl ligand with a phosphonate binding group. A nanostructure of TiO2 was needed to support sufficient catalyst to sustain the photocurrent generated by the Cu2O photoelectrode. The complete device showed photocurrents exceeding 2.5 mA cm-2 and large faradaic efficiency for the production of CO. Moving toward heterogeneous catalysis, the promotion of the CO2 to CO conversion reaction on silver surfaces by imidazolium cations was investigated. Replacing the imidazolium C2 proton with a phenyl substituent led to an enhancement of the co-catalytic effect. Replacing the C4 and C5 protons with methyl groups, however, suppressed the catalysis-promoting effect of the imidazolium salt for different C2 substituents and led to new insights into the role of imidazolium. The unassisted solar-driven splitting of CO2 into CO and O2 was demonstrated using water as electron source. This was achieved by the use of a porous gold cathode and an IrO2 anode, driven by three methylammonium lead iodide perovskite solar cells in series. Extended operation over 18 h was shown, achieving a solar to CO efficiency exceeding 6.5 %. Atomic layer deposition (ALD) modification of CuO nanowire cathodes with SnO2 was investigated, leading to striking impacts on the catalytic selectivity of this system. In an aqueous electrolyte, bare CuO led to the production of a wide spectrum of products, which was modified to the production of CO with high selectivity upon ALD modification. By exploiting the oxygen evolving activity of SnO2-coated CuO, a low cost bifunctional system was constructed, achieving sustained solar-driven production of CO with up to 13.4% efficiency.

EPFL2017