Researchers in Australia have created a new kind of water-based “flow battery” that could transform how households store rooftop solar energy.
Monash scientists designed a fast,safe liquid battery for home solar. The system could outperform expensive lithium-ion options.
Engineers have created a new water-based battery designed to make rooftop solar storage in Australian homes safer, more affordable, and more efficient.
This next-generation “flow battery” paves the way for compact,high-performance energy systems suitable for households and is projected to cost far less than today’s lithium-ion setups,which are priced around $10,000.
Breakthrough membrane design
Although flow batteries have existed for decades, they have mostly been limited to large-scale energy storage because of their bulk and relatively slow charging times.
Wanqiao Liang, the study’s lead author and a PhD candidate in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, explained that the team’s redesigned membrane solves this speed limitation, making the technology practical for homes and positioning it as a strong contender in the renewable energy market.
“We’ve taken a safe, affordable chemistry and made it fast enough to capture rooftop solar in real time,” Ms Liang said.
“We’ve engineered a membrane that finaly makes organic flow batteries competitive for residential and mid-scale storage. It opens the door to systems that are not only cheaper, but also safer and simpler to scale.”
Outperforming industry standards
Although several companies already manufacture flow batteries, the version developed at Monash is distinctive for uniting safety, affordability, and rapid performance. Very few systems globally have been able to achieve this balance.
“The key was improving ion selectivity; letting the good ions through quickly while keeping unwanted ones out. Our new membrane achieves this balance, allowing fast, stable operation even at high current densities,” Ms Liang said.
“We outperformed the industry-standard Nafion membrane in both speed and stability – running 600 high-current cycles with virtually no capacity loss – that’s a major leap forward for this kind of battery.”