Zinc-nickel single flow battery has become one of the hot technologies for electrochemical energy storage due to its advantages of safety, stability, low cost and high energy density. The working principle of zinc-nickel single flow battery is introduced. From the perspective of basic research, the main problems, influencing factors and solutions of the battery are summarized and analyzed: The morphology of zinc deposition is related to many factors such as electrolyte system, working current density and negative electrode substrate, so it can be controlled by optimizing the above conditions; The accumulation of zinc due to the imbalance of the charge consumed by the side reaction can reduce by suppressing the side reaction of the positive electrode, enhancing the side reaction of the negative electrode and preparing the composite positive electrode material; The polarization phenomenon is related to the current density, which can be reduced by optimizing the electrolyte flow field structure and using porous electrode materials; In addition, the development of new electrode materials can reduce battery costs and increase the area capacity of positive and negative electrodes. From the perspective of application research, this paper briefly analyzes the mathematical modeling of the battery and the current main engineering applications: By constructing different types of battery models, the influence of different factors on the battery can be explored; in practical applications, zinc-nickel single flow batteries have experienced three generations of large-scale products. Finally, some prospects for developing new battery structures, establishing accurate physical models and combining batteries with bionics are proposed.

Keywords： zinc-nickel single flow battery ; electrochemical energy storage ; energy storage battery