Disadvantages of zinc-calcite flow batteries

What is a zinc-based flow battery?

The history of zinc-based flow batteries is longer than that of the vanadium flow battery but has only a handful of demonstration systems. The currently available demo and application for zinc-based flow batteries are zinc-bromine flow batteries, alkaline zinc-iron flow batteries, and alkaline zinc-nickel flow batteries.

Are zinc-based batteries a problem?

Zinc-based batteries face several challenges, including limited cycle life, rate capability, and scalability. For instance, aqueous electrolytes can cause dendrite formation—needle-like zinc structures that accumulate on the anode during cycling—damaging the battery and reducing its rate capability and lifespan.

Are zinc-based flow batteries good for distributed energy storage?

Among the above-mentioned flow batteries, the zinc-based flow batteries that leverage the plating-stripping process of the zinc redox couples in the anode are very promising for distributed energy storage because of their attractive features of high safety, high energy density, and low cost .

Can a zinc-based flow battery withstand corrosion?

Although the corrosion of zinc metal can be alleviated by using additives to form protective layers on the surface of zinc [14, 15], it cannot resolve this issue essentially, which has challenged the practical application of zinc-based flow batteries.