About

Inception

The Flow Battery Research Collective (FBRC) was established in 2023 by chemist Dr. Daniel Fernandez and engineer Dr. Kirk Smith. Drawing on their respective expertise in organic solar cells and flow batteries, Daniel and Kirk recognized a shared passion for driving innovation and fostering accessibility within the energy sector. Fuelled by their dedication to open-source principles, they embarked on a journey to establish FBRC as a collaborative platform for advancing flow battery technology.

Daniel Fernandez’s background in organic solar cells and his hobbyist exploration of battery development, which he shared on his personal blog, combined with Kirk Smith’s PhD thesis research in flow batteries, laid the foundation for FBRC’s interdisciplinary approach. With a firm belief in the power of collaboration, they set out to break down silos within the scientific community, inviting researchers, engineers, and enthusiasts to join forces in tackling the challenges of energy storage. From its inception, FBRC embodied a spirit of inclusivity and shared progress, driven by a collective mission to develop scalable, sustainable, and accessible solutions for the future of energy storage.

Roadmap

Here is our development plan for the cell and stack hardware:

Benchtop development kit, cell area 1-10 cm², target release end of 2024
1. Purpose is testing materials and electrolytes on a small scale: different graphite felts, separators, formulations, etc. Purpose is not storing energy on a practical scale.
2. Measure intrinsic properties: efficiencies, achievable states-of-charge, current and power densities, etc.
Large-format single cell, area ≥600 cm², target release mid-2025
1. Purpose is testing established electrolytes from the benchtop kit with a practical cell area, and refining large-scale cell design. Purpose is not storing energy on a practical scale.
2. Measure and maintain achieved performance levels from benchtop kit
3. Tackle scale-up and integration challenges: balance-of-plant, centrifugal pump control, high-current power electronics, current and flow distribution, etc.
Stack, built from large-format single cells, target release end of 2025
1. Purpose is storing energy on a practical scale. Enough cells for a 48 V stack connection to residential-scale inverters (depends on chemistry). Power and energy metrics targeted for residential use.
2. Measure full-system performance with parasitic loads and full balance-of-plant
3. Tackle stack and system design challengs: shunt currents, thermal management, transient operation, system control.

Here is a visual overview of this same plan:

A visual roadmap depicting the above described plan with blue cells and stacks of increasing sizes, communicating the same information as just given in text — Roadmap of cell and stack hardware

All outputs of this development, including cell and stack designs, electrolyte formulations, etc. will be released as open-source hardware as defined by OSHWA.

This plan will not be carried out in a strictly linear manner; insights gathered in each step will go back and forth to inform and improve the preceding and following scales.

Development of flow battery electrolyte formulations will happen in parallel, with the majority of the electrolyte development and proving happening with the benchtop cell to conserve resources. Right now we are working on both traditional all-liquid and hybrid electrolyte formulations, the cell and stacks will be designed to accommodate either type.