He Cailing, Zhang Yiming, Zhang Shuangbin, Peng Xiyue, Noack Jens, Skyllas-Kazacos Maria, Wang Lianzhou, Luo Bin
Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia.
German-Australian Alliance for Electrochemical Technologies for Storage of Renewable Energy, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia.
Natl Sci Rev. 2025 May 31;12(7):nwaf218. doi: 10.1093/nsr/nwaf218. eCollection 2025 Jul.
The rapid advancement of flow batteries offers a promising pathway to addressing global energy and environmental challenges. Among them, iron-based aqueous redox flow batteries (ARFBs) are a compelling choice for future energy storage systems due to their excellent safety, cost-effectiveness and scalability. However, the advancement of various types of iron-based ARFBs is hindered by several critical challenges, including hydrogen evolution, inferior reversibility of metal deposition and stripping, and undesirable dendrite formation in hybrid flow systems with metal plating/stripping on the negative electrode. Additionally, all-soluble iron-based ARFBs face limitations in redox species solubility and electrolyte stability. To address these issues, various strategies have been developed, such as modifications to electrolytes, electrodes and separators, as well as flow stack optimization. This review provides a comprehensive overview of iron-based ARFBs, categorizing them into dissolution-deposition and all-soluble flow battery systems. It highlights recent advancements in the field and explores future prospects, focusing on four key areas: materials innovation and mechanistic understanding; flow battery system design and engineering; new electrochemistry explorations; and interdisciplinary strategies. By offering insights into these emerging directions, this review aims to support the continued research and development of iron-based flow batteries for large-scale energy storage applications.
液流电池的快速发展为应对全球能源和环境挑战提供了一条充满希望的途径。其中，铁基水系氧化还原液流电池（ARFBs）因其出色的安全性、成本效益和可扩展性，成为未来储能系统极具吸引力的选择。然而，各类铁基ARFBs的发展受到若干关键挑战的阻碍，包括析氢、金属沉积和剥离的可逆性较差，以及在负极有金属电镀/剥离的混合液流系统中出现不良的枝晶形成。此外，全可溶性铁基ARFBs在氧化还原物质溶解度和电解质稳定性方面存在局限性。为解决这些问题，人们已开发出各种策略，如对电解质、电极和隔膜进行改性，以及优化液流电池堆。本综述全面概述了铁基ARFBs，将其分为溶解-沉积型和全可溶性液流电池系统。它突出了该领域的最新进展，并探讨了未来前景，重点关注四个关键领域：材料创新与机理理解；液流电池系统设计与工程；新电化学探索；以及跨学科策略。通过深入探讨这些新兴方向，本综述旨在支持铁基液流电池在大规模储能应用方面的持续研发。
