During the operation of vanadium redoxflow battery, the vanadium ions diffuse across the membrane as
a result of concentration gradients between the two half-cells in the stack, leading to self-discharge
reactions in both half-cells that will release heat to the electrolyte and subsequently increase the electrolyte temperature. In order to avoid possible thermal precipitation in the electrolyte solution and
prevent possible overheating of the cell components, the electrolyte temperature needs to be known. In
this study, the effect of the self-discharge reactions was incorporated into a thermal model based on
energy and mass balances, developed for the purpose of electrolyte temperature control. Simulations
results have shown that the proposed model can be used to investigate the thermal effect of the selfdischarge reactions on both continuous chargeedischarge cycling and during standby periods, and can
help optimize battery designs and fabrication for different application