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Chao Kong

Chinese scientists have achieved a breakthrough in “all-iron flow battery” technology that could sharply reduce the cost of storing renewable energy while significantly extending battery lifespan.
Lithium costs over 80 times more than iron as a raw industrial material at present. An iron battery may offer a potential solution to one of the biggest bottlenecks in the global energy transition, according to the researchers.
A team from the Institute of Metal Research under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) reported the development of a highly stable electrolyte capable of sustaining thousands of charge-discharge cycles with virtually no capacity loss.
This is a record performance for the field. The findings were published online by the journal Advanced Energy Materials.
“It offers a low-cost, long-life solution for large-scale energy storage,” CAS said in a press release on April 16.
The global energy transition faces a critical bottleneck in storing intermittent power from solar and wind farms at a scale sufficient to stabilise the grid.
All-iron flow batteries – relying on abundant, inexpensive iron and non-flammable water-based electrolytes – have emerged as an attractive candidate for long-term storage.
Commercial adoption, however, remains constrained by instability in the iron-based anolyte on the negative side of the battery, where active materials degrade and leak across the membrane, significantly curtailing operational life.
The Chinese team addressed this challenge at the molecular level with what they describe as a “synergistic design” strategy. Central to the approach is a newly engineered iron complex, which functions as both a structural shield and an electrostatic barrier.
Its bulky, rigid molecular framework provides steric protection, physically blocking hydroxide ions from attacking the iron centre. Simultaneously, the molecule’s dense negative charge generates an electrostatic “force field” that repels similarly charged species, effectively preventing the active material from crossing the membrane.


“We combined high steric hindrance with a negatively charged interface for the first time,” lead researcher Tang Ao wrote in the academic article. “This dual protection mechanism addresses both degradation and crossover at the molecular origin, which have long limited the lifespan of iron-based flow batteries.”
In the media release, CAS noted: “The battery operated stably for over 6,000 cycles with no capacity decay. After 6,000 cycles, there was no precipitation, no accumulation of by-products and both the structure and reversibility remained intact.”
The test, which simulated more than 16 years of daily use, achieved an average coulombic efficiency or leak-proof capacity of 99.4 per cent – indicating minimal side reactions – and retained 78.5 per cent energy efficiency even under high power output.
Significantly, the new design slashed the rate of active material crossover by two orders of magnitude compared with conventional systems.
The advance comes amid intensifying global efforts to develop iron-based flow batteries, seen as a promising alternative to lithium-ion systems for grid-scale storage.
In the United States, ESS Tech Inc. has pushed forward an acidic iron flow battery design nearing commercial deployment, though challenges such as hydrogen evolution and dendrite formation – the growth of needle-like metal crystals on the anodes during charging – remain.
Meanwhile, academic teams at the Georgia Institute of Technology and Worcester Polytechnic Institute are exploring alternative chemistries and system architectures.
By contrast, the CAS advance focuses on an alkaline system and uses precise molecular engineering to deliver ultra-long cycle life.
According to the CAS press release: “This research establishes a completely new set of design criteria for iron-based electrolytes.”
Such durability could prove decisive in lowering lifetime costs, a vital metric for grid-scale installations, where batteries must operate reliably for decades.


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China

Next-generation large-scale energy storage system promises ultra-low cost and record lifespan


Next-generation large-scale energy storage system promises ultra-low cost and record lifespan.


China unveils ultra-cheap ‘all-iron flow battery’ for renewable energy storage

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Next-generation large-scale energy storage system promises ultra-low cost and record lifespan

Next-generation large-scale energy storage system promises ultra-low cost and record lifespan