Issue 6, 2020

Enhanced electrochemical performance of modified thin carbon electrodes for all-vanadium redox flow batteries

Abstract

We report the unique electrochemical properties of nitrogen-containing carbon nanostructures (N-CP) grown on commercial carbon paper (CP), used as electrocatalysts in all-vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFBs). The focus is on the anode, where mitigation of the hydrogen evolution reaction and loss in redox kinetics due to cycling is considered as a challenge. The growth of bamboo-like carbon nanostructures is achieved through a catalytic chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process with a very small geometric loading of Fe (from FeCl3) as the catalyst. Anhydrous acetonitrile, used as a nitrogen/carbon precursor, is fed to the electrode sample at 900 °C for 3 hours in a stream of H2–Ar (carrier gas). The three-electrode-cell study shows enhanced kinetics and durability of the electrode for V3+/V2+ redox reactions; N-CP shows a significant suppression of the peak potential separation (ΔE ∼ 80 mV), indicating faster kinetics compared to conventional CP (ΔE ∼ 160 mV). In addition, the subscale cell performance shows good durability (about 5% and 15% loss in energy efficiency in N-CP and CP, respectively) after 50 charge–discharge cycles. The improved durability of the N-CP electrode is attributed to the presence of nitrogen–carbon nanostructures, increased active area, and improved sp2 carbon content. Such findings can contribute to the development of large scale high performance VRFB systems.

Graphical abstract: Enhanced electrochemical performance of modified thin carbon electrodes for all-vanadium redox flow batteries

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
29 Mar 2020
Accepted
03 Jun 2020
First published
28 Aug 2020
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

Mater. Adv., 2020,1, 2033-2042

Enhanced electrochemical performance of modified thin carbon electrodes for all-vanadium redox flow batteries

A. Sodiq, F. Fasmin, L. Mohapatra, S. Mariyam, M. Arunachalam, H. Hamoudi, R. Zaffou and B. Merzougui, Mater. Adv., 2020, 1, 2033 DOI: 10.1039/D0MA00142B

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