Scientific Achievement
Reviewed causes and effects of crossover in different types of flow batteries and discussed strategies to reduce crossover and mitigate its impact on performance and durability.
Significance and Impact
Completely eliminating crossover of active species in redox flow batteries is very difficult and often come at cost of excessive cell polarization. Developing technologies to mitigate crossover, and strategies for recovering from its consequences, will enable development of successful systems with new active materials.
Research Details
The rate and impact of crossover depend on the nature of the active materials and their fate after they transport across the separator. Accordingly, electrolyte solutions can be classified by what happens to the active species at the opposing electrolyte. This behavior also dictates what recovery strategies may be employed, and at what frequency. This review describes desirable attributes for active materials and separators that help diminish crossover, and strategies that can be used to recover from its effects for each of the different classes of electrolytes.
