A team of materials scientists, chemical engineers, and environmental scientists affiliated with a host of institutions in China has developed a redox flow battery (RFB) with 87.9% energy efficiency, which can also last for 850 cycles. In their project, published in the journal Nature Communications, the group developed a new kind of catalytic electrode to improve the efficiency of the battery.
An RFB is a type of electrochemical cell that converts chemical energy into electrical energy through reversible oxidation and reduction of working fluids. Such batteries are made up of energy-storing electrolytes that are pumped through an electrochemical cell into a storage area. Because they are easily scalable, they are typically used for storing large amounts of energy, such as that collected by an energy grid.
RFBs are not efficient, however, which is why scientists have been looking for ways to improve them. In this new effort, the team in China has found a way to improve efficiency by using a new type of catalytic electrode.
The researchers sought to improve the efficiency of a special type of RFB called SIRFB based on polysulfide-iodide. To that end, they started with a 2D MoS2 nanosheet and enhanced it with CO atoms and sulfur vacancies, creating a new material they described as CoSA-VS/MoS2.
The new material could be used to optimize the interface, boost reactant absorption, and speed up the kinetics of the coupling between I–/I3– and S2-/Sx2-. The result was a catalytic electrode that allowed the SIRFBs into which they were put to be more efficient.
Testing showed the batteries capable of achieving 87.9% efficiency when running at 20 mA cm-2, which the research team describes as a significant improvement over current state-of-the-art SIRFBs. The battery achieved a peak power density of 95.7 mW cm-2 with 76.5% energy efficiency at 30 mA cm-2 and ran up to 50 cycles. When operated at 10 mA cm-2, the battery sustained stable operation at a 10% state of charge for up to 850 cycles.
The research team notes that the battery’s peak efficiencies could be restored by replacing the electrolytes after running for 200 and 600 cycles.
More information:
Zhigui Wang et al, Synergy of single atoms and sulfur vacancies for advanced polysulfide–iodide redox flow battery, Nature Communications (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-58273-9
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Redox flow battery achieves energy efficiency of 87.9% and longer cycling life with new catalytic electrode (2025, April 2)
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