Combined hydrogen production and electricity storage using a vanadium-manganese redox dual-flow battery

A redox dual-flow battery is distinct from a traditional redox flow battery (RFB) in that the former includes a secondary energy platform, in which the pre-charged electrolytes can be discharged in external catalytic reactors through decoupled redox-mediated hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER). The concept offers several advantages over conventional electrolysis in terms of safety, durability, modularity, and purity. In this work, we demonstrate a vanadium-manganese redox-flow battery, in which Mn3+/Mn2+ and V3+/V2+ respectively mediate the OER and the HER in Mo2C-based and RuO2-based catalysts. The flow battery demonstrates an average energy efficiency of 68% at a current density of 50 mA . cm(-2) (cell voltage = 1.92 V) and a relative energy density 45% higher than the conventional all-vanadium RFB. Both electrolytes are spontaneously discharged through redox-mediated HER and OER with a faradic efficiency close to 100%.