This chapter describes the basic principles of electrochemical energy storage and discusses three important types of system: rechargeable batteries, fuel cells and flow batteries. A rechargeable battery consists of one or more electrochemical cells in series.
Electrochemical energy storage systems have the potential to make a major contribution to the implementation of sustainable energy. This chapter describes the basic principles of electrochemical energy storage and discusses three important types of system: rechargeable batteries, fuel cells and flow batteries.
(A) Schematic diagram showing the fundamental mechanisms of charge storage in electrochemical energy storage systems. (B) Classification of key energy storage systems by the mechanism of charge storage: faradaic which involves chemical storage of charge and non-Faradaic which involves a physical storage of charge.
Electrochemical energy storage/conversion systems include batteries and ECs. Despite the difference in energy storage and conversion mechanisms of these systems, the common electrochemical feature is that the reactions occur at the phase boundary of the electrode/electrolyte interface near the two electrodes .
Electrochemical considerations only come into play in certain features of their mechanisms. Electrochemical energy storage involves the conversion, or transduction, of chemical energy into electrical energy, and vice versa.
D. N. Buckley, C. O'Dwyer, N. Quill, and R. P. Lynch, in Energy Storage Options and Their Environmental Impact, ed. R. E. Hester and R. M. Harrison, The Royal Society of Chemistry, 2018, pp. 115-149. Electrochemical energy storage systems have the potential to make a major contribution to the implementation of sustainable energy.