Issue 48, 2017

Salt-templated porous carbon–carbon composite electrodes for application in vanadium redox flow batteries

Abstract

The catalytic graphitization procedure was optimized by impregnating polyacrylonitrile-based felts with iron(III) chloride solution (0.5 wt% Fe) as the catalyst. By this approach, the graphitization temperature of the felts was reduced to 1000 °C and below. This allowed retaining higher nitrogen contents in the felts, most probably enhancing their electrocatalytic activity for utilization in redox flow batteries. Moreover, lower process temperatures will reduce the production costs of carbon felt (CF) electrodes in the future. Combining the catalytic graphitization with a salt-templating step, porous carbon–carbon composite electrodes with a 100 times increased surface area (126 m2 g−1) were obtained. The structure, graphitization degree and porosity were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and nitrogen sorption (BET), whereas the electrochemical performance of the composite electrodes for application in all-vanadium redox flow batteries was evaluated by cyclic voltammetry (CV).

Graphical abstract: Salt-templated porous carbon–carbon composite electrodes for application in vanadium redox flow batteries

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
03 Sept. 2017
Accepted
16 Okt. 2017
First published
18 Okt. 2017

J. Mater. Chem. A, 2017,5, 25193-25199

Salt-templated porous carbon–carbon composite electrodes for application in vanadium redox flow batteries

M. Schnucklake, S. Kuecken, A. Fetyan, J. Schmidt, A. Thomas and C. Roth, J. Mater. Chem. A, 2017, 5, 25193 DOI: 10.1039/C7TA07759A

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