Sustainability Issues in Manufacturing and Operation of Second-Generation Flow Batteries

The article covers the general background of batteries and a comparison between the different types of batteries highlighting the advantages and the disadvantages of flow batteries with respect to other technologies: conventional flow batteries, second generation of flow batteries, redox flow batteries based on organic redox couples, solar rechargeable redox flow batteries with a focus on lithium-ion batteries with flow systems, lithium metal batteries and lithium–sulfur batteries. The scope is to give the reader the chance to compare the main features and characteristics of the different technologies as well as to guide in the selection of these depending on the specific topic