Optimized the vanadium electrolyte with sulfate-phosphoric mixed acids to enhance the stable operation at high-temperature

Abstract

Herein, the influence of the concentration design and comprehensive performance of the sulfate-phosphoric mixed acid system electrolyte is investigated to realize an electrolyte that maintains high energy density and stable operation at high temperatures. Static stability tests have shown that VOPO₄ precipitation occurs only with vanadium(V) electrolyte. The concentration of vanadium ion of 2.0–2.2 mol·L^–1, phosphoric acid of 0.10–0.15 mol·L^–1, and sulfuric acid of 2.5–3.0 mol·L^–1 are suitable for a vanadium redox flow battery in the temperature range from –20 to 50 °C. The equations for predicting the viscosity and conductivity of electrolytes are obtained by the response surface method. The optimized electrolyte overcomes precipitation generation. It has 2.8 times higher energy density than the non-phosphate electrolyte, and a coulomb efficiency of 94.0% at 50 °C. The sulfate-phosphoric mixed acid system electrolyte promotes the electrode reaction process, increases the current density, and reduces the resistance. This work systematically optimizes the concentrations of composition of positive and negative vanadium electrolytes with mixed sulfate-phosphoric acid. It provides a basis for the different valence states and comprehensive properties of sulfate-phosphoric mixed acid system vanadium electrolytes under extreme environments, guiding engineering applications.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

all vanadium redox flow battery / mixed-acid vanadium electrolyte / concentration optimization / response surface methodology / high-temperature stability

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Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51774216), Hubei Technical Innovation Special Project of China (Grant No. 2017ACA185) and Science and technology innovation Talent program of Hubei Province (Grant No. 2022EJD002).

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