Halogens as Positive Electrode Active Species for Flow Batteries and Regenerative Fuel Cells

Alexander Jameson; Elod Gyenge

doi:10.1007/s41918-020-00067-2

Electrochemical Energy Reviews ›› 2020, Vol. 3 ›› Issue (3) : 431 -465. DOI: 10.1007/s41918-020-00067-2

Review Article

Halogens as Positive Electrode Active Species for Flow Batteries and Regenerative Fuel Cells

Alexander Jameson ¹
, Elod Gyenge ¹^,^b

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¹University of British Columbia, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Clean Energy Research Centre, 2360 East Mall, Vancouver, BC, Canada

^b elod.gyenge@ubc.ca

Alexander Jameson

received his B.Sc. and MA.Sc. degrees from the department of Chemistry in 2016 and Chemical Engineering in 2018, respectively, at Queen’s University in Canada. Currently, he is a second year Ph.D. candidate in the Chemical and Biological Engineering department at the University of British Columbia. His current research focuses on redox flow battery energy storage, non-aqueous electrochemistry, and electrocatalysts for the bromine, iodine, and oxygen electrodes.

Dr. Elod Gyenge

is a Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada, and faculty member of the Clean Energy Research Centre. Prof. Gyenge’s research is focused on electrocatalysis and electrochemical engineering applied to diverse batteries, fuel cells and electrosynthesis technologies. He authored over eighty peer reviewed journal publications and delivered over one hundred invited talks and conference presentations worldwide. Prof. Gyenge is the recipient of a number of awards and recognitions including Gould Endowment Professor at UBC, Japan Society for Promotion of Science (JSPS) Fellow and cross-appointed Professorship at Osaka University, Graduate School of Engineering. He is a co-founder of Agora Energy Technologies Ltd. an electrochemical engineering company focused on the development and commercialization of the CO$_2$ Redox Flow Battery.

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Abstract

Abstract

Flow batteries offer solutions to a number of the growing concerns regarding world energy, such as increasing the viability of renewable energy sources via load balancing. However, issues regarding the redox couples employed, including high costs, poor solubilities/energy densities, and durability of battery materials are still hampering widespread adoption of this technology. Flow batteries with a positive half-cell consisting of a halogen based redox couple ($\hbox {Cl}^-/\hbox {Cl}_2$, $\hbox {Br}^-/\hbox {Br}_2$, $\hbox {I}^-/\hbox {I}_2$) offer several advantages over other alternatives, such as being relatively inexpensive, highly soluble, and exhibiting faster kinetics than many other electroactive redox couples. This paper aims to provide a comprehensive comparative review of the thermodynamic and kinetic properties of relevant halogen and polyhalide redox couples, and recent advances in electrode and membrane materials for various halogen-based flow batteries and regenerative hydrogen fuel cells using halogens instead of oxygen.

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Alexander Jameson, Elod Gyenge. Halogens as Positive Electrode Active Species for Flow Batteries and Regenerative Fuel Cells. Electrochemical Energy Reviews, 2020, 3(3): 431-465 DOI:10.1007/s41918-020-00067-2