There is strong interest in developing batteries to complement lithium ion and fuel cell batteries. Vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFBs) seem to be suitable as large-scale energy storage systems. In these systems, vanadium species act as both electrolyte and active material. Since 1980, the pioneer of VRFB, Maria Skyllos-Kazacos from the University of New South Wales in Australia, has published a vast number of papers about electrode materials, membranes and combinations of vanadium and other redox active species. In chemistry didactics, these investigations pose a significant challenge: it is hard to transform these innovative developments into sound and easy to create experiments. Three experiments are presented here to introduce students to the capabilities of VRFBs with different electrodes and membranes for battery development.
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