Driven by technological innovation, the development trend of zinc-based flow battery (ZBF) industry is improving

​​According to different active materials, flow batteries can be divided into four types: iron-chromium flow batteries, all-vanadium flow batteries, zinc-based flow batteries, and all-iron flow batteries. Zinc-based flow battery (ZBF) refers to a flow battery using zinc as the active material on the negative electrode side. Zinc-based flow batteries have the advantages of high energy density, low production cost, simple structure, and recyclability, and have broad application prospects in the field of large-scale energy storage. There are many types of zinc-based flow batteries, including zinc-iron flow batteries, zinc-halogen flow batteries, zinc-nickel single flow batteries, etc.

According to the “2023-2028 China Zinc-based Flow Battery (ZBF) Industry Market In-depth Research and Development Prospects Forecast Report span>》shows that from the perspective of product segments, zinc-bromine flow batteries are the representative products of zinc-based flow batteries. Zinc-bromine flow batteries have excellent performance, can perform 100% deep discharge repeatedly, and can be used in large-scale energy storage systems. At present, my country already has independent research and development capabilities for zinc-bromine liquid flow energy storage systems, and is expected to have a competitive advantage in the global market in the future.

In January 2022, the National Development and Reform Commission and the National Energy Administration jointly issued the “Implementation Plan for New Energy Storage Development during the “14th Five-Year Plan””. The document clearly proposed to increase the research and development of key technologies such as flow batteries and accelerate the development of iron-chromium liquids. Industrial application of flow batteries, vanadium flow batteries, zinc-bromine flow batteries and other products. With the support of national policies, my country’s zinc-based redox flow batteries will have broad market prospects.

Compared with other flow batteries, zinc-based flow batteries have certain shortcomings in cycle life. In recent years, my country’s scientific research institutions have continued to become enthusiastic about the research and development of flow batteries, and have made many new developments in the field of zinc-based flow batteries. In 2022, a scientific research team from the Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences used iodine cathode solution to successfully prepare a zinc-iodine flow battery that can achieve high-energy and long-term cycle operation. The discharge capacity of the battery increased by nearly 60%. With in-depth research and technological advancement, my country’s zinc-based flow battery industry will gradually develop in the direction of high performance.

Due to factors such as high technical barriers, the number of battery companies deploying zinc-based flow batteries in my country is relatively small. Beijing Zhongdian Xingfa Technology Co., Ltd., Kashgar Ande Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd., Weijing Energy Storage Technology Co., Ltd., Shenzhen Zhaoxin Energy Co., Ltd., Zhejiang Zheneng Electric Power Co., Ltd., etc. are the main players in my country’s zinc-based redox flow battery market. participants. At present, Weijing Energy Storage has overcome technical problems such as zinc dendrite growth and is gradually promoting the large-scale production of zinc-based flow batteries.

Industry analysts said that zinc-based flow batteries, as a segmented product of flow batteries, have high energy density and low production costs. Advantages, the industry has huge development potential. As the construction process of large-scale energy storage power stations accelerates, the market demand for zinc-based flow batteries will gradually be released, and the industry development prospects are good. In recent years, Chinese enterprises and scientific research institutions have continued to increase research efforts, and high-performance zinc-based flow batteries will become the mainstream of the market in the future.