Recent advances in material chemistry for zinc enabled redox flow batteries

Abstract

Abstract The pursuit of green and sustainable energy is a long‐term goal for modern society and people's life. Particularly under the context of carbon neutralization, decarbonization has become a consensus and propels the turning of research enthusiasm to explore new materials and chemistries for energy conversion and storage at a low expenditure. Zinc (Zn) enabled redox flow batteries (RFBs) are competitive candidates to fulfill the requirements of large‐scale energy storage at the power generation side and customer end. Considering the explosive growth, this review summarizes recent advances in material chemistry for zinc‐based RFBs, covering the cathodic redox pairs of metal ions, chalcogens, halogens, and organic molecules. After a brief introduction of common issues for Zn2+/Zn conversion reaction at the anode side, the focus is devoted to expounding challenges of redox species and possible problem‐solving strategies at the cathode side. Besides, the auxiliary components of separator and current collector are also discussed for achieving optimal RFBs' performance. At last, the conclusion and outlook of future endeavor for Zn‐based RFBs implementation are put forward.

Keywords

• cathode
• current collector
• redox flow battery
• separator
• zinc anode