Two-in-one strategy for optimizing chemical and structural properties of carbon felt electrodes for vanadium redox flow batteries
Vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFBs) have received significant attention for use in large-scale energy storage systems (ESSs) because of their long cycle life, flexible capacity, power design, and safety. However, the poor electrochemical activity of the conventionally used carbon felt electrode re...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Taylor & Francis Group
2024-12-01
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| Series: | Science and Technology of Advanced Materials |
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| Online Access: | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/14686996.2024.2327274 |
| _version_ | 1826923488510738432 |
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| author | Sung Joon Park Min Joo Hong Ye Ji Ha Jeong-In Choi Ki Jae Kim |
| author_facet | Sung Joon Park Min Joo Hong Ye Ji Ha Jeong-In Choi Ki Jae Kim |
| author_sort | Sung Joon Park |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFBs) have received significant attention for use in large-scale energy storage systems (ESSs) because of their long cycle life, flexible capacity, power design, and safety. However, the poor electrochemical activity of the conventionally used carbon felt electrode results in low energy efficiency of the VRFBs and consequently impedes their commercialization. In this study, a carbon felt (CF) electrode with numerous nanopores and robust oxygen-containing functional groups at its edge sites is designed to improve the electrochemical activity of a carbon felt electrode. To achieve this, Ni metal nanoparticles were initially precipitated on the surface of the CF electrode, followed by etching of the precipitated Ni nanoparticles on the CF electrode using sulfuric acid. The resulting CF electrode had a specific surface area eight times larger than that of the pristine CF electrode. In addition, the oxygen-containing functional groups anchored at the graphite edge sites of the nanopores can act as robust electrocatalysts for VO2+/VO2+ and V2+/V3+ redox reactions. Consequently, the VRFB cell with the resulting carbon felt electrode can deliver a high energy efficiency of 86.2% at the current density of 60 mA cm−2, which is 20% higher than that of the VRFB cell with the conventionally heat-treated CF electrode. Furthermore, the VRFB cell with the resultant carbon felt electrodes showed stable cycling performance with no considerable energy efficiency loss over 200 charge-discharge cycles. In addition, even at a high current density of 160 mA cm−2 , the developed carbon felt electrode can achieve an energy efficiency of 70.1%. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-24T21:39:56Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-e3736b3febce40fdb503c7cc292c7d8a |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1468-6996 1878-5514 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-02-17T14:25:50Z |
| publishDate | 2024-12-01 |
| publisher | Taylor & Francis Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Science and Technology of Advanced Materials |
| spelling | doaj.art-e3736b3febce40fdb503c7cc292c7d8a2024-12-23T08:54:38ZengTaylor & Francis GroupScience and Technology of Advanced Materials1468-69961878-55142024-12-0125110.1080/14686996.2024.2327274Two-in-one strategy for optimizing chemical and structural properties of carbon felt electrodes for vanadium redox flow batteriesSung Joon Park0Min Joo Hong1Ye Ji Ha2Jeong-In Choi3Ki Jae Kim4Department of Energy Science, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, Republic of KoreaDepartment of Future Energy Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, Republic of KoreaDepartment of Energy Science, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, Republic of KoreaDepartment of Energy Engineering, Konkuk University, Seoul, Republic of KoreaDepartment of Energy Science, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, Republic of KoreaVanadium redox flow batteries (VRFBs) have received significant attention for use in large-scale energy storage systems (ESSs) because of their long cycle life, flexible capacity, power design, and safety. However, the poor electrochemical activity of the conventionally used carbon felt electrode results in low energy efficiency of the VRFBs and consequently impedes their commercialization. In this study, a carbon felt (CF) electrode with numerous nanopores and robust oxygen-containing functional groups at its edge sites is designed to improve the electrochemical activity of a carbon felt electrode. To achieve this, Ni metal nanoparticles were initially precipitated on the surface of the CF electrode, followed by etching of the precipitated Ni nanoparticles on the CF electrode using sulfuric acid. The resulting CF electrode had a specific surface area eight times larger than that of the pristine CF electrode. In addition, the oxygen-containing functional groups anchored at the graphite edge sites of the nanopores can act as robust electrocatalysts for VO2+/VO2+ and V2+/V3+ redox reactions. Consequently, the VRFB cell with the resulting carbon felt electrode can deliver a high energy efficiency of 86.2% at the current density of 60 mA cm−2, which is 20% higher than that of the VRFB cell with the conventionally heat-treated CF electrode. Furthermore, the VRFB cell with the resultant carbon felt electrodes showed stable cycling performance with no considerable energy efficiency loss over 200 charge-discharge cycles. In addition, even at a high current density of 160 mA cm−2 , the developed carbon felt electrode can achieve an energy efficiency of 70.1%.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/14686996.2024.2327274Vanadium redox flow batterycarbon feltNi metal etchingporous structurerobust oxygen functional groups |
| spellingShingle | Sung Joon Park Min Joo Hong Ye Ji Ha Jeong-In Choi Ki Jae Kim Two-in-one strategy for optimizing chemical and structural properties of carbon felt electrodes for vanadium redox flow batteries Science and Technology of Advanced Materials Vanadium redox flow battery carbon felt Ni metal etching porous structure robust oxygen functional groups |
| title | Two-in-one strategy for optimizing chemical and structural properties of carbon felt electrodes for vanadium redox flow batteries |
| title_full | Two-in-one strategy for optimizing chemical and structural properties of carbon felt electrodes for vanadium redox flow batteries |
| title_fullStr | Two-in-one strategy for optimizing chemical and structural properties of carbon felt electrodes for vanadium redox flow batteries |
| title_full_unstemmed | Two-in-one strategy for optimizing chemical and structural properties of carbon felt electrodes for vanadium redox flow batteries |
| title_short | Two-in-one strategy for optimizing chemical and structural properties of carbon felt electrodes for vanadium redox flow batteries |
| title_sort | two in one strategy for optimizing chemical and structural properties of carbon felt electrodes for vanadium redox flow batteries |
| topic | Vanadium redox flow battery carbon felt Ni metal etching porous structure robust oxygen functional groups |
| url | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/14686996.2024.2327274 |
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