Testing new battery materials could soon be done much faster and more sustainably, thanks to a tiny flow battery developed by researchers at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). 

Scaled down by as much as five times the size of a traditional flow cell, the redesigned mini flow battery has proven to be highly efficient. Not only is it compact, but it also delivers results similar to those of standard lab-scale test systems.

The main challenge in traditional systems is they require large quantities of materials and extensive experimentation. The new mini flow battery cell solves this problem by drastically reducing the amount of starting material needed while maintaining performance comparable to full-sized systems. 

Ruozhu Feng, materials scientist and lead author of the study, said:

“Currently, we have to prepare a lot of material when we identify a promising new battery formula, and this takes a lot of time. With this mini flow cell process, we can figure out whether a proposed new material works with only a tiny amount—milligrams—available.”

However, he pointed out that proving scaled-down experimental systems work is just the first step. The team’s ultimate goal is to tap AI and robotics to automate and speed up the testing of new flow battery designs.

Flow batteries have two chambers and use liquid electrolytes stored in external tanks. This allows them to scale and adapt to large-scale applications. However, current flow battery designs face challenges, specifically high costs, low power density, and material sourcing limitations. 

With this innovation, the team believes this approach will spearhead experimentation with a broader range of experimental chemistries and help advance renewable energy solutions.

Read the full article here to learn more about the new mini flow cell design.

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