State Key Laboratory of Geomechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071, China
Yinping Li
State Key Laboratory of Geomechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071, China
Xilin Shi
State Key Laboratory of Geomechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071, China
Yahua Liu
School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei 230009, China
Hongling Ma
State Key Laboratory of Geomechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071, China
Peng Li
State Key Laboratory of Geomechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071, China
Yuanxi Liu
State Key Laboratory of Geomechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071, China
Xin Liu
Institut für Geotechnik, Universität für Bodenkultur, Feistmantelstraße 4, 1180 Vienna, Austria
Mingnan Xu
State Key Laboratory of Geomechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071, China
Chunhe Yang
State Key Laboratory of Geomechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071, China
Salt cavern flow batteries (SCFBs) are an energy storage technology that utilize salt caverns to store electrolytes of flow batteries with a saturated NaCl solution as the supporting electrolyte. However, the geological characteristics of salt caverns differ significantly from above-ground storage tanks, leading to complex issues in storing electrolytes within salt caverns. Therefore, investigating and summarizing these issues is crucial for the advancement of SCFB technology. This paper’s innovation lies in its comprehensive review of the current state and development trends in SCFBs both domestically and internationally. First, the current development status of SCFB energy storage technology both domestically and internationally is summarized. Then, eight main issues are proposed from the perspectives of salt cavern geological characteristics (tightness, conductivity, ions, and temperature) and electrolyte properties (selection, permeability, corrosion, and concentration). Finally, a novel SCFB system is proposed to address the most critical issue, which is the low concentration and uneven distribution of active materials in the current SCFB system. The review in this paper not only comprehensively summarizes the development status of SCFBs both domestically and internationally, but also points out the direction for the future research focussing on SCFBs.
