The Energy Storage and Refrigeration facility conducts world-leading research and development on advanced energy storage technologies. 

Research areas include: 

  • Redox flow batteries including the vanadium and iron flow battery systems 
  • Hybrid fuel cells including the vanadium oxygen hybrid fuel cell 
  • Electrolyte production methods 
  • Graphite and conducting plastic electrodes 
  • Membrane evaluation 
  • Enhanced flow battery cell and stack design (computational modelling and validation) 
  • Energy storage system level design 
  • Microgrid simulations 
  • Liquid metal batteries 
  • Refrigeration and air conditioner performance optimisation 

Our facilities include: 

  • Access to a 30 kW/130 kWh commercial VRB system 
  • Access to dedicated computation laboratories for advanced simulation modelling 
  • Extensive state of the art electrochemical analysis and battery test equipment 
  • Electrolyte characterisation equipment 
  • Inert atmosphere controlled high temperature furnaces 
  • Climate controlled chambers for evaluating effects of environmental parameters on energy storage system performance 
  • Access to advanced additive and automated manufacturing facilities 

This facility is also part of CENELEST (The German-Australian Alliance for Electrochemical Technologies for Storage of Renewable Energy). 

The NextGEN Energy Storage vertically integrated project is also supported by the Energy Storage and Refrigeration facility.

Contact Us

For more information, contact Associate Professor Chris Menictas