Flow battery with dispersion blocker between electrolyte channel and electrode

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10411284-B2
Application number	US-201414504539-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 2, 2014
Priority date	Oct 3, 2013
Publication date	Sep 10, 2019
Grant date	Sep 10, 2019

Abstract

The invention discloses general apparatus and methods for electrochemical energy conversion and storage via a membraneless laminar flow battery. In a preferred embodiment, the battery includes a flow-through porous anode for receiving a fuel and a porous electrolyte channel for transporting an electrolyte adjacent to the porous anode; a flow-through porous cathode is provided for transporting an oxidant; and a porous dispersion blocker is disposed between the electrolyte channel and the porous cathode, which inhibits convective mixing while allowing molecular diffusion and mean flow. Pore structure properties are selected for tuning convective dispersion, conductivity or other macroscopic properties. Specific materials, reactants, fabrication methods, and operation methods are disclosed to achieve stable charge/discharge cycles and to optimize power density and energy density.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A flow battery comprising:
a porous anode to receive a fluid fuel during discharge;
a porous cathode to receive a fluid oxidant during discharge;
a porous electrolyte channel to transport a liquid electrolyte between the porous anode and the porous cathode, the porous electrolyte channel having a first plurality of pores; and
a porous dispersion blocker placed between the electrolyte channel and at least one of the porous anode or the porous cathode, the porous dispersion blocker having a second plurality of pores with a mean diameter at least two times smaller than the first plurality of pores in the porous electrolyte channel and a third plurality of pores in at least one of the porous anode or the porous cathode,

wherein the fluid fuel flows through the porous anode, the fluid oxidant flows through the porous cathode, and the liquid electrolyte flows through the porous electrolyte channel.

2. A flow battery comprising:
a porous anode for receiving a fluid fuel during discharge;
a porous cathode for receiving a fluid oxidant during discharge; and
a porous dispersion blocker placed between the porous anode and the porous cathode, the porous dispersion blocker being configured to inhibit convective mixing between the porous anode and the porous cathode, while allowing molecular diffusion and mean flow,
wherein the porous dispersion blocker is not ion-perm-selective,
wherein the porous anode comprises a flow-through anode configured to flow through the fluid fuel and the porous cathode comprises a flow-through cathode configured to flow through the fluid oxidant,
wherein the flow battery is rechargeable,
wherein the porous anode is formed from a first homogeneous monolithic solid porous material and the porous cathode is formed from a second homogeneous monolithic solid porous material, the first homogeneous monolithic solid porous material and the second homogeneous monolithic solid porous material each having at least one varying pore structure property selected for tuning at least one of convective dispersion, diffusion flux, conductivity, and liquid velocity.

3. The battery of claim 2 , wherein the battery can operate in reverse to convert electrical energy to chemical energy in the form of the fluid fuel and the fluid oxidant.

4. The battery of claim 2 , wherein the fluid oxidant includes bromine, the liquid electrolyte includes hydrobromic acid, and the fluid fuel includes hydrogen.

5. The battery of claim 2 , wherein the at least one varying pore structure property has a smooth or discontinuous gradient, the at least one varying pore structure property including at least one of pore size distribution, porosity, tortuosity, loop size or pore shape.

6. The battery of claim 2 , further including structure for introducing the fluid oxidant mixed with an electrolyte into the porous cathode.

7. The battery of claim 6 , wherein the structure is configured to flow the fluid oxidant mixed with the electrolyte through the dispersion blocker along a two dimensional direction perpendicular to a direction of the mean flow.

8. The battery of claim 2 , wherein the porous dispersion blocker has a first pore structure different from a second pore structure of the porous anode and porous cathode.

9. The battery of claim 8 , wherein pores in the dispersion blocker have a first mean diameter at least two times smaller than a second mean diameter of pores in at least one of the porous anode and porous cathode.

10. A flow battery comprising:
a porous anode for receiving a fluid fuel during discharge;
a porous cathode for receiving a fluid oxidant during discharge;
a porous electrolyte channel for transporting a liquid electrolyte between the porous anode and the porous cathode, the porous electrolyte channel being formed from a solid porous material that contacts the porous anode and the porous cathode; and
a porous dispersion blocker placed between the electrolyte channel and at least one of the porous anode or the porous cathode, the porous dispersion blocker being configured to inhibit convective mixing between said electrolyte channel and the at least one of the porous anode or the porous cathode, while allowing molecular diffusion and mean flow,
wherein the porous anode comprises a flow-through anode configured to flow through the fluid fuel, the flow-through anode having a first inlet for the fluid fuel to enter the flow-through anode and a first outlet for the fluid fuel to exit the flow-through anode and the porous cathode comprises a flow-through cathode configured to flow through the fluid oxidant, the flow-through cathode having a second inlet for the fluid oxidant to enter the flow-through cathode and a second outlet for the fluid oxidant to exit the flow-through cathode,
wherein the flow battery is rechargeable,
wherein the porous electrolyte channel has a third inlet for the liquid electrolyte to enter the porous electrolyte channel and a third outlet for the liquid electrolyte to exit the porous electrolyte channel.

11. The battery of claim 10 wherein the flow battery is configured to operate in reverse to convert electrical energy to chemical energy in the form of the fluid fuel and the fluid oxidant.

12. The battery of claim 10 , wherein the fluid oxidant includes bromine, the liquid electrolyte includes hydrobromic acid and the fluid fuel includes hydrogen.

13. The battery of claim 10 , wherein the porous anode or the porous cathode includes at least one of a flowable liquid electrode or a semi-solid electrode.

14. The battery of claim 10 , wherein the porous electrolyte channel and the porous cathode are configured such that the liquid electrolyte and the fluid oxidant flow in opposite directions.

15. The battery of claim 10 , further including circuitry to measure in real time voltage and/or current of the battery to modulate a first flow rate of the liquid electrolyte and a second flow rate of the fluid oxidant to optimize power output and reactant utilization.

16. The battery of claim 10 , wherein the porous electrolyte channel and the porous cathode are configured to introduce a flow of at least one of the liquid electrolyte or the fluid oxidant through the dispersion blocker along a two-dimensional flow direction perpendicular to a direction of the mean flow.

17. The battery of claim 10 , wherein the porous dispersion blocker has a first pore structure different from a second pore structure of at least one of the porous anode, the porous electrolyte channel, and porous cathode.

18. The battery of claim 17 , wherein pores in the dispersion blocker have a first mean diameter at least two times smaller than a second mean diameter of pores in at least one of the porous anode, the porous electrolyte channel or the porous cathode.

19. The battery of claim 17 , wherein the dispersion blocker comprises a monolithic solid porous material, the porous electrolyte channel comprises the monolithic solid porous material, and the porous anode or the porous cathode comprises the monolithic solid porous material, wherein the dispersion blocker, the porous electrolyte channel, and the monolithic solid porous material have a varying pore structure, the monolithic solid porous material comprising at least one of:
porous ceramics including layers of particles with different sizes and chemical compositions;
porous polymeric materials including powders of polymeric particles of different compositions and sizes;
composite porous materials including a bulk and conformal polymeric coatings throughout the bulk

Assignees

• Massachusetts Inst Technology

Inventors

• Bazant Martin Z
• Braff William Allan
• Buie Cullen Richard
• Suss Matthew
• Gilson Laura M
• Conforti Kameron

Classifications

• H01M8/22

  Fuel cells in which the fuel is based on materials comprising carbon or oxygen or hydrogen and other elements; Fuel cells in which the fuel is based on materials comprising only elements other than carbon, oxygen or hydrogen · CPC title

• H01M4/96

  Carbon-based electrodes · CPC title

• H01M8/08

  Fuel cells with aqueous electrolytes · CPC title

• H01M8/1018

  Polymeric electrolyte materials · CPC title

• H01M8/188 Primary

  by recharging of redox couples containing fluids; Redox flow type batteries · CPC title