Advanced power and energy management based on electric energy storage is important to increase the efficiency of the grid, as well as to enable better utilization of fluctuating renewable sources. Highly efficient energy storage technologies that are able to quickly respond to the large and rapid fluctuations in energy generation and demand are necessary to address these critical issues. Supercapacitors show great promise for use in grid-scale energy storage due to their rapid charge/discharge ability; however, they suffer from low energy density, cost and self-discharge. To overcome these limitations we have recently developed a new technology called the electrochemical flow capacitor (EFC) [1,2]. This new concept combines the advantages of both flow batteries and supercapacitors, decoupling energy storage from power output (i.e., scalable energy capacity) while enabling rapid charging/discharging (i.e., fast response rates with high power density).
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