Zinc–iron redox flow batteries (ZIRFBs) possess intrinsic safety and stability and have been the research focus of electrochemical energy storage technology due to their low electrolyte cost. This review introduces the characteristics of ZIRFBs which can be operated within a wide pH range, including the acidic ZIRFB taking advantage of Fen+ with high solubility, the alkaline ZIRFB operating at a relatively high open-circuit potential and current densities, and the neutral ZIRFB providing a non-toxic, harmless, and mild environment. No matter what kind of ZIRFB, there are always zinc dendrites limiting areal capacity on the anode, which has become an obstacle that must be considered in zinc-based RFBs. Therefore, we focus on the current research progress, especially the summarizing and analysis of zinc dendrites, Fe(III) hydrolysis, and electrolytes. Given these challenges, this review reports the optimization of the electrolyte, electrode, membrane/separator, battery structure, and numerical simulations, aiming to promote the performance and development of ZIRFBs as a practical application technology. Based on these investigations, we also provide the prospects and development direction of ZIRFBs.

The quasi-stable sheet cavitation produced in a small Venturi channel is investigated using a fast synchrotron x-ray imaging technique aided with conventional high speed photography. The use of x rays instead of visible light solves cavitation opacity related issues, and x-ray phase contrast-based edge enhancement enables high-definition visualization of the internal two-phase morphology. The simultaneous acquisition of time-resolved velocity and void fraction fields through post-processing of the recorded x-ray images reveals, for the first time, the complex diphasic flow structures inside the sheet cavity, which is essentially divided into six characteristic parts. Distinct from the current mainstream view, the globally steady sheet cavitation is found to be characterized by a weak but constantly existing re-entrant flow that can penetrate the entire cavity. The turbulent velocity fluctuations inside the sheet cavity are also investigated. The turbulence level in the reverse flow region is observed to be as low as in the outer main flow, demonstrating the relatively steady status of the re-entrant flow. Unlike the streamwise and cross-stream fluctuations, the shear stress appears to be weakly correlated with the velocity gradient. The collapse of the vapor phase and the vaporization at the upstream cavity interface are found to be the primary causes of shear stress intensification.

The Reynolds-averaged Naviers-Stokes (RANS) method coupling with cavitation model is still a practical tool to predict cavitating flows, particularly in industrial applications, due to its computational efficiency. However, the compressibility effects induced by cavitation are not well considered in conventional RANS methods, which often causes the blockage of the reentrant jet and the total steadiness of the simulated cavity. To this end, modeling of compressibility effects becomes critical to predict the characteristics of unsteady cavitating flows. An empirical eddy viscosity correction [Reboudet al., “Two phase flow structure of cavitation: experiment and modeling of unsteady effects,” in 3rd International Symposium on Cavitation CAV1998, Grenoble, France (1998), Vol. 26.] was proposed to consider the compressibility effects induced by cavitation. Although this modification is able to capture unsteady behaviors of cavitating flows in various configurations, it is still not fully analyzed in terms of the turbulent quantities, e.g., Reynolds shear stress. In this work, we investigate the effects of this compressibility correction on the Reynolds shear stress, by comparing with x-ray experimental data in a small Venturi channel. It is shown that the Reboud correction reduces the eddy viscosity in the entire cavity region, which improves the prediction of Reynolds shear stress near the wall significantly. However, the correction depends only on the simulated mixture density, leading to poor predictions near the phase interface where the simulated mixture density has large discrepancies. Based on the results, we propose an empirical eddy viscosity limiter to confine the original correction beneath the cavitating layer and demonstrate the merits of the proposed correction by comparing with experimental measurements.