Redox flow batteries (RFBs) are strong candidates for grid-scale energy storage due to their potential to decouple power and energy capacity. Commercial RFBs (e.g. all—vanadium system) have demonstrated attractive features, such as operation over a large number of cycles. However, RFBs have achieved limited market penetration due to issues related to cross-contamination, sluggish redox kinetics, low energy and power densities, and relatively high cost. The ESE group has been working on solving these problems with research focused on the development of novel hybrid (liquid/gas) RFB systems, study and optimisation of electrode microstructures and performance characterisation.
As part of the ESE group, the Brandon group at the Department of Earth Science and Engineering is leading this topic of research. The Brandon group primarily focuses on the development of cheaper and more efficient RFBs such as V/H2, PS/air and Mn/H2, and the study of the dominant transport and electrochemical processes affecting their performance. The group’s work combines a variety of experimental and simulation techniques such as polarisation and impedance spectra analysis, electrode design and manufacture using electrospinning, microstructure study via 3D tomography, flow field design and manufacture, battery optimisation using Gaussian processes, and performance modelling using reduced order and continuum modelling.
Current projects
Past projects
- Polysulfide-air redox flow battery
- A unique approach to understanding relationship between electrode microstructure and RFB performance
- Reduced-order model for a regenerative hydrogen-vanadium fuel cell
Lead Researcher: 
Recent publications 2020 - to date
Xia Y, Ouyang M, Yufit V, Tan R, Regoutz A, Wang A, Mao W, Chakrabarti B, Kavei A, Song Q, Kucernak AR, Brandon NP, 2022, A cost-effective alkaline polysulfide-air redox flow battery enabled by a dual-membrane cell architecture, Nature Communications, Vol: 13 (2388)
Simon BA, Gayon-Lombardo A, Pino-Muñoz CA, Wood CE, Tenny KM, Grecoc KV, Cooper SJ, Forner-Cuenca A, Brushett FR, Kucernak AR, Brandon NP, 2021, Combining electrochemical and imaging analyses to understand the effect of electrode microstructure and electrolyte properties on redox flow batteries, Applied Energy, Vol: 306, Part: 2, 117678
Zhang D, Forner-Cuenca A, Taiwo OO, Yufit V, Brushett FR, Brandon NP, Gu S, Cai Q, 2020, Understanding the role of the porous electrode microstructure in redox flow battery performance using an experimentally validated 3D pore-scale lattice Boltzmann model, Journal of Power Sources, Vol: 447.