The History of theUNSWAll‐Vanadium Flow Battery Development

The concept of the all-vanadium flow battery (VFB) was born in late 1983 at UNSW Sydney with a few experiments that suggested that the V(II)/V(III) and V(IV)/V(V) redox couples could be viable candidates. After overcoming the initial obstacles of poor reversibility and low solubility of V(V) compounds in acidic media, the first patent was filed in 1986. Early government and industry funding led to a large research and development effort at UNSW that formed the foundations of the vanadium battery industry that we see today. This paper presents an historical overview of the research, development, and early field trials of the All-Vanadium Flow Battery at UNSW from 1983 to 2020.