ICP Research Report 2021 English

Page 31

Research Report 2021

Institute of Computational Physics

A New Thermodynamical Framework for Improved Aqueous Flow Battery Modelling Organic redox flow batteries (ORFB) show great promise as a low-cost, sustainable energy storage device, with longer expected lifetime compared to competing storage technologies [1]. The aim of this work is to provide a better understanding of the thermodynamics of aqueous electrolytes, in order to predict more accurately the performance and lifetime of these batteries. The ICP collaborates in this regard with the FlowCamp consortium, a research and training project funded by the European Union’s Marie Sklodowska-Curie funding programme. FlowCamp involves 11 partner organisations from 8 different countries. Research in FlowCamp aims to improve materials for high-performance, low-cost next-generation redox-flow batteries. Contributors: Partner(s): Funding: Duration:

G. Mourouga, X. Yang, R. P. Schärer, E. Baudrin, J. O. Schumacher, T. J. Schmidt ETH Zurich, Univ. Grenoble-Alpes, JenaBatteries GmbH, Univ. Picardie European Commission, Horizon 2020, Marie Skłodowska-Curie Training Networks 2018–2021

The limitation of many flow battery models stems from the use of species concentrations for voltage or transport predictions. Formulating a battery model based on species concentrations implies making the dilute solution hypothesis, where the electrolyte would remain in a hypothetical ideal state and species would mix without interactions:

ideal solution

Activity coefficients also affect the osmotic transfer of water across the ion-exchange membrane during battery operation.

Real solution

Figure 3: Picture of positive (left) and negative (right) reservoirs after cycling. The height was initially equal.

Through the Nernst law, it is also possible to make more accurate cell voltage predictions when parameterizing calculations with activities rather than concentrations. The aim of our work in the FlowCamp project is to provide a thermodynamically consistent approach to the simulation of aqueous redox-flow batteries, including operating conditions, transport processes and thermal management.

Figure 1: Ideal solution (left): interactions are neglected / Real solution (right): electrostatic and short-range interactions affect electrolyte properties.

Interactions are captured by correcting concentrations with an activity coefficient , which is solute-dependent and needs to be measured experimentally. The interactions affecting the freezing point of the solution, it is possible to calculate the activity coefficient  by measuring the freezing point as a function of composition.

[1] X. Wei et al., “Materials and Systems for Organic Redox Flow Batteries: Status and Challenges,” ACS Energy Lett., vol. 2, no. 9, pp. 2187–2204, Sep. 2017.

Figure 2: Freezing point of Calcium dichloride as a function of composition and standard deviation from least-square regression.

Zurich University of Applied Sciences

26

www.zhaw.ch


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A.6 ICP Spin-Off Companies

3min
pages 57-59

A.5 Teaching

3min
pages 55-56

A.2 Scientific Publications

7min
pages 50-52

5 Computational Physics and Artificial Intelligence

3min
pages 47-48

4.5 Artificial Intelligence (AI) Heat Pump Controller

2min
page 46

Measurement Technology for Decentralized Energy Systems

3min
page 45

Portable Device for Early Diagnosis of Lymphedema

2min
page 43

Design and Development of Artificial Skin Models for Tactile Sensing Applications

3min
page 44

Detecting Nanoparticles in Complex Environments

2min
page 42

Hardware-Software Integration and Validation of a Compact THz System

2min
page 40

All-Organic Gap-Free Terahertz Photonics

2min
page 39

Silicon Solar Cell Parameter Estimation by a Convolutional Neural Network Trained on Simulated Data

2min
page 34

Investigating Charge Transport in Organic Semiconductors with Electrochemical Methods and Modelling

2min
page 38

Dynamics of Charge Transfer States in Organic Semiconductor Devices: A Combined Experimental and Simulation-Based Approach (CTDyn

2min
page 36

New Tools for Characterizing Quantum-Dot Displays

2min
page 37

3 Organic Electronics and Photovoltaics

1min
page 33

Experimental Validation of an Electro-Thermal Small-Signal Model for Large-Area Perovskite Solar Cells

2min
page 35

3-D model of Water and Heat Transport in PEMFCs during Evaporative Cooling and Humidification

2min
page 30

A New Thermodynamical Framework for Improved Aqueous Flow Battery Modelling

2min
page 31
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