Project team
Project proponent: Henry Yu
I’m a mechanical engineering graduate from the University of Western Australia. My master’s thesis concerns Computational Fluid Dynamics with experiences in Scale-Resolving Simulations. I’m 27 years old, love the outdoors and nature, and am an avid enjoyer of anything automotive. On the weekends, I’ll usually be found in the bush, searching for the golf ball I’ve shanked off the tee.
From 2019 to 2021, I worked at a Norwegian research startup, contributing to engineering software development and serving as the lead concept and impact writer for multiple Horizon Europe projects, which focused on renewable energy. My hometown of Perth often feels quiet, but I believe it harbours unexplored potential especially in low-cost energy. By driving down energy costs, I believe Perth and Western Australia can evolve into a more diverse and resilient economy. Flowbat is committed to advancing practical, affordable energy solutions locally, and we are committed to bring forth our technology to the wider world.
Computational Chemistry Expert: Sean Li
I’m a PhD graduate from the University of Western Australia with specialisation in computational chemistry and cheminformatics. I’m 26 years old, and enjoy fishing, lifting weights and reading about topics like the philosophy of science, the history of AI, or the impending collapse of the academic system. Anything that catches my interest, really…
I was fascinated by science and technology as a young lad; in fact, I made an electrolytic cell following the guidance of a chemistry textbook. It worked, and ignited a burning passion for chemical experiments (especially the ones that go “bang!”). This led me down a path to a Bachelor’s degree in chemistry, where I discovered my newfound interest in methods for modelling chemical systems – computational chemistry. This was the basis for my honours degree, and my fully funded PhD from Forrest Research Foundation at the University of Western Australia.
As a local Perthian, I have a deep connection towards our city through fond memories, families and friends. Unfortunately, many PhD graduates like myself are incentivised to leave and search for greener pastures elsewhere, due to homogenous local industries that couldn’t make use of their knowledge. Hence, after an arduous 4 years completing a PhD, my passion to challenge the current state of affairs of the WA economy has never been greater.
With WA’s expansive land and low-cost energy potentials that still remains unexplored, I believe that this is a huge opportunity for me to make an impact through Flowbat technologies, challenging the status quo. We believe Flowbat technologies can accelerate the world’s energy transition to renewable sources by starting locally in WA, and we are happy to participate in bringing affordable energy to all.
The story of Flowbat
The idea for the Flowbat Project came to me during my stay in Norway (2019–2021), while working on European Union research grants at a small, research-intensive software company. We developed multi-physics computational models to solve complex engineering problems, including a study on optimising flow battery stacks for which systems of interest are the rate of transport of active species in the electrolyte to electrodes for redox reactions.
From a modelling perspective, this required understanding fluid dynamics, reaction kinetics, and electric fields, and this presented a multidisciplinary challenge. The project drew both commercial and scientific interest as renewable energy gained momentum in the late 2010s. To strengthen credibility, we partnered with a hydrogen fuel cell manufacturer exploring flow battery production.
We evaluated several chemistries and decided on the alkaline Zinc–Iron redox couple due to its high cell voltage and abundant, low-cost materials. This decision was also backed up by existing research that confirms the working properties and mechanisms of the ZnFe redox pair, and some achieved good cell efficiencies with acceptable cycle life. However, this project did not meet its funding target, and the company’s interest was more in the simulation than the battery itself, and thus the project was disbanded.
The ZnFe dream never died within me, and I carried it all the way through my Master degree in Mechanical Engineering degree at the University of Western Australia between 2022 – 2025. At my graduation ceremony, I by-chance, ran into an old mate, who I learned recently graduated with his PhD in computational chemistry. We had many conversations and shared many ideas, including a discussion on the kinetics and the electro-chemistries of ZnFe flow batteries. One thing led to another, soon we found ourselves conducting electro-chemical experiments in my backyard. As of the end of October, we’ve conducted 4 experiments on ZnFe redox couple, of which 2 were on Flowbat designed prototypes, and the prototypes were successful at our charging and discharging test.
Together, we’ve developed methods that push ZnFe batteries beyond the current state of the art. While understanding of the ZnFe redox couple has progressed since 2021, much academic focus remains on peripheral debates on the materials for reaction chambers, additives, or organic couples. Efforts to match lithium-ion performance often overlook ZnFe’s core strengths: cost-effectiveness, manufacturing simplicity, and safe, abundant materials. We believe that focusing on these aspects will achieve versatility in deployment and cost-effective energy storage, which cannot readily be matched by lithium ion cells.
This project aims to enhance the robustness of ZnFe batteries to reach commercial viability. While ZnFe will likely not surpass lithium-ion in high-performance applications like EVs or consumer electronics, it still remains highly competitive for grid and household storage, especially where lower energy density is acceptable and thermal safety is critical. Additionally, the simplicity of flow battery stack assembly means that it is possible for ZnFe batteries to be manufactured in Australia, while remaining globally competitive in terms of pricing, even when compared to mass-manufactured Li-ion batteries made by specialised factories.
Flowbat 