Analysis of Performance Limiting Factors in Solid-Oxide Iron-Air Redox Battery Operated with Different Redox Couples

A new bi-functional fuel-cell/battery hybrid system has recently been developed in the presenter’s group for power generation and energy storage. The new system is comprised of a reversible SOFC as the electrical charger/discharger and a redox-active metal/metal-oxide chemical bed as the energy storage. During operation, the cathode of the system is constantly open to air, whereas the anode configuration defines the true functionality of the system: power generation when the anode chamber is open to a flowing fuel, and energy storage when the anode chamber is closed next to a neighboring multivalent metal/metal-oxide chemical bed.

The presentation highlights recent progress in computational analysis of physics and chemistry governing the performance of the fuel-cell/battery hybrid. These highlights include the identification of performance limiting factors, analysis of heat flow balance and proposal of strategies to achieve energy efficient hybrid system for simultaneous power generation and energy storage.