(151b) Screening Aqueous Battery Chemistries for Widespread Deployment: Combining Material Distribution, Thermodynamics, & Efficiency in a Levelized Cost of Energy Stored Model

In pursuit of low-cost battery systems, aqueous flow batteries offer significant benefits in their operational flexibility, cost, and safety metrics at scale, but have myriad redox couple configurations and possible chemistries. With this “wild west” of growing options, how can we decide which chemistries are most appropriate in the context of grid-scale energy storage?

This study leverages the inherent distribution and abundance of materials across the globe, each element’s electrochemical potential, and estimates of their rate performance to screen for aqueous chemistries that are most capable and appropriate for widespread deployment. Using the component materials’ bulk costs and the intensive energy density of each material (determined with Nernst reduction potential and number of electrons transferred), the minimum material cost per unit energy i.e. “thermodynamic capital cost” can be calculated.

311 half reactions are collected to determine the thermodynamic capital cost of all half reaction combinations (i.e. each unique battery chemistry) when only accounting for the active materials required and their electrochemical performance. These chemistries are applied to a generic flow-battery model using Newman’s porous electrode theory to emulate porous and slurry electrodes for estimation of rate performance and voltage efficiency. These proposed key metrics of grid-scale energy storage: material distribution, thermodynamic performance, and rate performance/efficiency, are combined into a levelized cost of energy stored (LCOE) model. Ultimately, these metrics are used to determine chemistries with notable potential for batteries with widespread material availability and overall LCOE.