Development of a zinc manganese dioxide flow battery

With larger penetrations of renewable energy on our electrical grid, there is a need for large-scale energy storage devices. A redox flow battery is an electrochemical device with great promise as a large-scale energy storage technology given the scalability of the technology and that power and energy output are decoupled. This study aims to incorporate the strengths of flow batteries with the abundance and relatively high safety of manganese dioxide batteries. However, manganese dioxide batteries historically suffer from poor reversibility. To improve reversibility, the effects of different electrolyte additives, as well as the synthesis of manganese nano-rods, were investigated. These solutions were then incorporated into a prototype flow battery to address the need for a safe and reliable energy storage device.