Kirk Smith, PhD is a scientist and engineer in the field of electrochemical engineering, focusing on batteries and electrocatalysis. Based in France, he’s left conventional academia to work with the Flow Battery Research Collective, where he hopes to help democratize open-source energy storage technology.
Building Open-Source Batteries for Stationary Energy Storage
May 23, 2026 @ 11:00 AM - 11:20 AM GMT+2 Add to Calendar
Proprietary, hard-to-recycle batteries hinder the energy transition. The Flow Battery Research Collective (fbrc.dev) develops open-source batteries for stationary storage, using materials like zinc, iodine, iron, and manganese. We’ll discuss technical and economic challenges facing our progress and comment on the peculiarities of an open-source hardware project with chemical risks.
Kirk Smith