• Energy Research

This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Mechanical Engineering, Department of at Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact SCHOLARC@mailbox.sc.edu. Publication Info Published in Journal of The Electrochemical Society, Volume 160, Issue 10, 2013, pages A1716-A1719. ©Journal of The Electrochemical Society 2013, The Electrochemcial Society. © The Electrochemical Society, Inc. 2013. All rights reserved. Except as provided under U.S. copyright law, this work may not be reproduced, resold, distributed, or modified without the express permission of The Electrochemical Society (ECS). The archival version of this work was published in Journal of The Electrochemical Society. Publisher’s Version: http://dx.doi.org/10.1149/2.048310jes

Aqueous Zn-ion batteries (ZIBs) have garnered significant interest in recent years due to their potential applications in large-scale stationary energy storage. Early ZIBs research has primarily focused on searching for better cathodes and understanding cathodic Zn2+ storage mechanisms. Only very recently has ZIBs research shifted to Zn anode. Here in this study, we report on insights into the interactions between Zn anode and aqueous Zn-salt electrolytes gained by a systematic investigation of bulk properties of electrolytes, surface properties of the reacted Zn, electrokinetics of Zn/Zn2+ redox reaction and cycle stability of Zn/electrolyte/Zn symmetrical cells. We found that Zn metal surface, regardless of electrolyte, are always covered by a layer of Zn-containing layered double hydroxides (Zn-LDHs) upon contact with aqueous Zn-electrolytes. We show that “OH− production” pathway resulted from the dissolved oxygen in Zn-electrolytes is the root cause for the Zn-LDHs formation. The electrokinetic studies reveal that Zn/Zn(ClO4)2 interface has the highest exchange current density, while the symmetrical cell tests show that Zn(OTf)2 is the most stable electrolyte for Zn-metal anode.

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The recently developed solid oxide metal-air redox battery is a new technology capable of high-rate chemistry. Here we report that the performance, reversibility and stability of a solid oxide iron-air redox battery can be significantly improved by nanostructuring energy storage materials from a carbothermic reaction.

SnS nanoparticles (SnS NPs) electrostatically anchored on a 3D N-doped graphene (3DNG) network exhibit the best cycling performance reported so far for SnS-based anodes.

This paper reviews the research progress of a new class of solid oxide metal-air redox batteries for advanced energy storage. This new type of battery is comprised of a reversible solid oxide fuel cell and pair of metal/metal-oxide redox couple. This all solid-state battery has a great potential to surpass the conventional metal-air batteries and redox flow batteries in performance and cost. The paper first discusses the working principle and key features of the new battery, followed by the theoretical analysis of various metal-air chemistries. Finally, two examples of solid oxide metal-air chemistries operated at 550°C are given to demonstrate the promising performance of this innovative battery.

The present computational study investigates the factors limiting the performance of a newly developed solid oxide iron-air redox battery (SOMARB) operated at 800 and 500oC, thus with different redox couples, viz. Fe/FeO for 800oC and Fe/Fe3O4 for 550oC. The multiphysics model established is considered high fidelity since it has been validated by experimental data obtained under conditions similar to the simulations. The effects of current density, initial porosity of redox cycle unit (RCU), distance between Reversible Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (RSOFC) and RCU, and depth of discharge on the battery’s performance have been systematically studied. It is found that the performance limiting factor is the electrolysis electro-kinetics of RSOFC for the 800oC-battery and Fe3O4-reduction kinetics of RCU for the 550oC-battery, respectively. Strategies with the goal of achieving a balanced energy capacity and cycle efficiency are also proposed.

One of the major concerns of consuming fossil fuels to produce useful form of energy is the emission of CO2, a greenhouse gas that can cause climate change and ultimately threaten the survival of humanity. Controlling CO2-emission is an urgent but the only practical solution to stabilize CO2 concentration in the atmosphere. In this paper, we report our effort to capture CO2 from a simulated flue gas by utilizing a dual-phase mixed electron and carbonate-ion conducting (MECC) membrane. The obtained CO2 flux density is the highest among the published dual-phase carbonate systems. These results demonstrate the Ag-MC dual-phase composite as a promising high-flux membrane for high-temperature electrochemical CO2 separation from flue gas with high selectivity.

Abstract The present computational study investigates the effects of pressure and flow patterns on the electrochemical performance of a repeating unit in the anode-support SOFC stack using a reduced order model previously developed. A unique feature of the present study is that the charge, heat, and mass transport affecting the cell performance has been coupled with the temperature field. The focus of this study is to simulate how the flow patterns and operating pressure in conjunction with temperature field coupling impact the electrochemical performance and chemical reactions within syngas-fueled SOFCs. The simulation results show that the benefits of pressure on power performance do not increase linearly, but with a tapering of performance at higher pressure ranges. This indicates that an intermediate pressure operation may offer a balance between increased performance but higher cost in pressurized systems. The counter-flow design yields a narrower temperature gradient than the co-flow design across the stack, thus leading to a better overall performance. The simulations also find that pressurization significantly promotes the CO direct electro-oxidation and reverse water gas shift reaction simultaneously, thus resulting in higher power density.