Double-membrane triple-electrolyte redox flow battery design

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9917323-B2
Application number	US-201313918444-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 14, 2013
Priority date	Jun 15, 2012
Publication date	Mar 13, 2018
Grant date	Mar 13, 2018

Abstract

A redox flow battery is provided having a double-membrane (one cation exchange membrane and one anion exchange membrane), triple-electrolyte (one electrolyte in contact with the negative electrode, one electrolyte in contact with the positive electrode, and one electrolyte positioned between and in contact with the two membranes). The cation exchange membrane is used to separate the negative or positive electrolyte and the middle electrolyte, and the anion exchange membrane is used to separate the middle electrolyte and the positive or negative electrolyte. This design physically isolates, but ionically connects, the negative electrolyte and positive electrolyte. The physical isolation offers great freedom in choosing redox pairs in the negative electrolyte and positive electrolyte, making high voltage of redox flow batteries possible. The ionic conduction drastically reduces the overall ionic crossover between negative electrolyte and positive one, leading to high columbic efficiency.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A redox flow battery comprising:
a) a cation exchange membrane having a first surface and a second surface;
b) an anion exchange membrane having a first surface and a second surface;
c) a first electrolyte positioned between and in contact with the first surface of the cation exchange membrane and the first surface of the anion exchange membrane;
d) a second electrolyte in contact with the second surface of the cation exchange membrane and a first electrode; and
e) a third electrolyte in contact with the second surface of the anion exchange membrane and a second electrode, wherein: the first electrolyte is not in contact with any electrode in its complete flow path; the first electrolyte and second electrolyte are different in terms of at least one species of anion; the first electrolyte and third electrolyte are different in terms of at least one species of cation; and the redox flow battery is a rechargeable battery that is capable of both generating and storing electrical energy.

2. The redox flow battery of claim 1 , wherein the second electrolyte is more basic than the first electrolyte, and the first electrolyte is more basic than the third electrolyte.

3. The redox flow battery of claim 2 , wherein the second electrolyte comprises an anion-based redox pair or a cation-based redox pair.

4. The redox flow battery of claim 2 , wherein the second electrolyte comprises an Al(OH) 4 − /Al redox pair, a Zn(OH) 4 2− /Zn redox pair or a Co(CN) 6 3− /Co(CN) 6 4− redox pair.

5. The redox flow battery of claim 2 , wherein the third electrolyte comprises an anion-based redox pair or a cation-based redox pair.

6. The redox flow battery of claim 2 , wherein the third electrolyte comprises a Co 3+ /Co 2+ redox pair or a Ce 4+ /Ce 3+ redox pair.

7. The redox flow battery of claim 2 , wherein the second electrolyte comprises an Al(OH) 4 /Al redox pair and the third electrolyte comprises a Co 3+ /Co 2+ redox pair.

8. The redox flow battery of claim 2 , wherein the second electrolyte comprises a Zn(OH) 4 2− /Zn redox pair and the third electrolyte comprises a Ce 4+ /Ce 3+ redox pair.

9. The redox flow battery of claim 2 , wherein the second electrolyte comprises a Co(CN) 6 3− /Co(CN) 6 4− redox pair and the third electrolyte comprises a Co 3+ /Co 2+ redox pair.

10. The redox flow battery of claim 2 , wherein the second electrolyte comprises a Zn(OH) 4 2− /Zn redox pair, and the third electrolyte comprises a Fe 3+ /Fe 2+ redox pair.

11. The redox flow battery of claim 2 , wherein the first electrode is a negative electrode and the second electrode is a positive electrode; or wherein the first electrode is a positive electrode and the second electrode is a negative electrode.

12. The redox flow battery of claim 1 , wherein the first electrode is a negative electrode and the second electrode is a positive electrode; or wherein the first electrode is a positive electrode and the second electrode is a negative electrode.

13. The redox flow battery of claim 1 , wherein the second electrolyte comprises an anion-based redox pair or a cation-based redox pair.

14. The redox flow battery of claim 1 , wherein the second electrolyte comprises an Al(OH) 4 − /Al redox pair, a Zn(OH) 4 2− /Zn redox pair or a Co(CN) 6 3− /Co(CN) 6 4− redox pair.

15. The redox flow battery of claim 1 , wherein the third electrolyte comprises an anion-based redox pair or a cation-based redox pair.

16. The redox flow battery of claim 1 , wherein the third electrolyte comprises a Co 3+ /Co 2+ redox pair or a Ce 4+ /Ce 3+ redox pair.

17. The redox flow battery of claim 1 , wherein the second electrolyte comprises an Al(OH) 4 − /Al redox pair and the third electrolyte comprises a Co 3+ /Co 2+ redox pair.

18. The redox flow battery of claim 1 , wherein the second electrolyte comprises a Zn(OH) 4 2− /Zn redox pair and the third electrolyte comprises a Ce 4+ /Ce 3+ redox pair.

19. The redox flow battery of claim 1 , wherein the second electrolyte comprises a Co(CN) 6 3− /Co(CN) 6 4− redox pair and the third electrolyte comprises a Co 3+ /Co 2+ redox pair.

20. The redox flow battery of claim 1 , wherein the second electrolyte comprises a Zn(OH) 4 2− /Zn redox pair, and the third electrolyte comprises a Fe 3+ /Fe 2+ redox pair.

Assignees

• Univ Delaware

Inventors

• Yan Yushan
• Gu Shuang
• Gong Ke

Classifications

• Y02E60/50

  Fuel cells · CPC title

• H01M2300/0082

  Organic polymers · CPC title

• Y10T29/49108

  Electric battery cell making · CPC title

• H01M8/20 Primary

  Indirect fuel cells, e.g. fuel cells with redox couple being irreversible (H01M8/18 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H01M8/188 Primary

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