Search

Thermal stability of charged LiCoO 2 cathodes with various surface areas of active material is investigated in order to quantify the effect of LiCoO 2 surface area on thermal stability of cathode. Thermogravimetric analyses and calorimetry have been conducted on charged cathodes with different active material surface areas. Besides reduced thermal stability, high surface area also changes the active material decomposition reaction and induces side reactions with additives. Thermal analyses of LiCoO 2 delithiated chemically without any additives or with a single additive have been conducted to elaborate the effect of particle size on side reactions. Stability of cathode–electrolyte system has been investigated by accelerating rate calorimetry (ARC). Arrhenius activation energy of cathode decomposition has been calculated as function of conversion at different surface area of active material.

Hybrid systems, based on a lead–acid battery and a proton-exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) give the possibility to combine the advantages of both technologies. The benefits for different applications are discussed and the practical realisation of such systems is shown. Furthermore a numerical model for such a hybrid system is described and results are shown and discussed. The results show that the combination of lead–acid batteries and PEMFC shows advantages in case of applications with high peak power requirements (i.e. electric scooter) and applications where the fuel cell is used as auxiliary power supply to recharge the battery. The high efficiency of fuel cells at partial load operation results in a good fuel economy for recharging of lead–acid batteries with a fuel cell system.

The all-vanadium redox-flow battery is a promising candidate for load leveling and seasonal energy storage in small grids and stand-alone photovoltaic systems. The reversible cell voltage of 1.3 to 1.4 V in the charged state allows the use of inexpensive active and structural materials. In this work, studies on the performance of inexpensive active materials for use in vanadium redox-flow batteries are reported. Additionally, a cost analysis for a load leveling and a seasonal energy storage system is given based on a flow battery technology well established in Zn-flow batteries.