Cost-Effective Large-Scale Energy Storage: Towards the Development of Sulfur-Based Redox Flow Batteries

As we move towards a future reliant not on fossil fuels but on renewable energy sources energy storage systems will play a pertinent role in the integration into the existing power grid. A potential avenue for this is the redox flow battery which allows for ease of scalability and a simplicity of mechanism. We hope to develop a redox flow battery using aqueous polysulfide and polyiodide as a potential alternative for existing technologies. This flow battery will be optimized through membrane and catalyst screening and a sulfur speciation investigation.

I am a senior in chemical engineering. This project is an investigation into sulfur-based flow batteries. I have been working with the Brushett group since my freshman summer giving me experience with characterizing redox active molecules and with flow battery testing. I hope to learn about catalyst design and testing. This project excites me because I will gain experience in project development from start to finish.