Improving electrochemical properties of carbon paper as negative electrode for vanadium redox battery by anodic oxidation

Abstract

Anodic oxidation with different electrolyte was employed to improve the electrochemical properties of carbon paper as negative electrode for vanadium redox battery (VRB). The treated carbon paper exhibits enhanced electrochemical activity for V²⁺/V³⁺ redox reaction. The sample (CP-NH₃) treated in NH₃ solution demonstrates superior performance in comparison with the sample (CP-NaOH) treated in NaOH solution. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy results show that oxygen- and nitrogen-containing functional groups have been introduced on CP-NH₃ surface by the treatment, and Raman spectra confirm the increased surface defect of CP-NH₃. Energy storage performance of cell was evaluated by charge/discharge measurement by using CP-NH₃. Usage of CP-NH₃ can greatly improve the cell performance with energy efficiency increase of 4.8% at 60 mA/cm². The excellent performance of CP-NH₃ mainly results from introduction of functional groups as active sites and improved wetting properties. This work reveals that anodic oxidation is a clean, simple, and efficient method for boosting the performance of carbon paper as negative electrode for VRB.

Keywords

vanadium redox battery / carbon paper / negative electrode / anodic oxidation / electrochemical kinetics

References

[1] LiC, XieB, ChenJ, HeZ, ChenZ, LongY. Emerging mineral-coupled composite phase change materials for thermal energy storage [J]. Energy Conversion and Management, 2019, 183: 633-644

[2] MehboobS, AliG, ShinH J, HwangJ, AbbasS, ChungK Y, HaH Y. Enhancing the performance of all-vanadium redox flow batteries by decorating carbon felt electrodes with SnO₂ nanoparticles [J]. Applied Energy, 2018, 229: 910-921

[3] HeZ, LiM, LiY, LiC, YiZ, ZhuJ, DaiL, MengW, ZhouH, WangL. ZrO₂ nanoparticle embedded carbon nanofibers by electrospinning technique as advanced negative electrode materials for vanadium redox flow battery [J]. Electrochimica Acta, 2019, 309: 166-176

[4] YanY S-, KazacosM, BaoJ. Effects of battery design, environmental temperature and electrolyte flowrate on thermal behaviour of a vanadium redox flow battery in different applications [J]. Journal of Energy Storage, 2017, 11: 104-118

[5] ArenasL F, PonceD E, LeN C, WalshF C. Engineering aspects of the design, construction and performance of modular redox flow batteries for energy storage [J]. Journal of Energy Storage, 2017, 11: 119-153

[6] LiL Y, KimS, WangW, VijayakumarM, NieZ M, ChenB W, ZhangJ L, XiaG G, HuJ Z, GraffG, LiuJ, YangZ G. A stable vanadium redox-flow battery with high energy density for large-scale energy storage [J]. Advanced Energy Materials, 2011, 1: 394-400

[7] ParkM, JeonI Y, RyuJ, JangH, BackJ B, ChoJ. Edge-halogenated graphene nanoplatelets with F, Cl, or Br as electrocatalysts for all-vanadium redox flow batteries [J]. Nano Energy, 2016, 26: 233-240

[8] NohC, MoonS, ChungY, KwonY. Chelating functional group attached to carbon nanotubes prepared for performance enhancement of vanadium redox flow battery [J]. Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 2017, 5: 21334-21342

[9] GonzalezZ, SanchezA, BlancoC, GrandaM, MenendezR, SantamariaR. Enhanced performance of a Bi-modified graphite felt as the positive electrode of a vanadium redox flow battery [J]. Electrochemistry Communications, 2011, 13: 1379-1382

[10] WeiL, ZhaoT S, ZengL, ZhouX L, ZengY K. Copper nanoparticle- deposited graphite felt electrodes for all vanadium redox flow batteries [J]. Applied Energy, 2016, 180: 386-391

[11] ZhouH, ShenY, XiJ, QiuX, ChenL. ZrO₂-nanoparticle-modified graphite felt: Bifunctional effects on vanadium flow batteries [J]. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 2016, 8: 15369-15378

[12] BayehA W, KabtamuD M, ChangY C, ChenG C, ChenH Y, LinG Y, LiuT R, WondimuT H, WangK C, WangC H. Ta₂O₅-nanoparticle-modified graphite felt as a high-performance electrode for a vanadium redox flow battery [J]. ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, 2018, 6: 3019-3028

[13] LiX G, HuangK L, LiuS Q, TanN, ChenL Q. Characteristics of graphite felt electrode electrochemically oxidized for vanadium redox battery application [J]. Transactions of Nonferrous Metals Society of China, 2007, 17: 195-199

[14] HeZ, JiangY, ZhouH, ChengG, MengW, WangL, DaiL. Graphite felt electrode modified by square wave potential pulse for vanadium redox flow battery [J]. International Journal of Energy Research, 2016, 41: 439-447

[15] LvYR, ZhangL, ChengG, WangP F, ZhangT Z, LiC C, JiangY Q, HeZ X, DaiL, WangL. Preparation of carbon nanosheet by molten salt route and its application in catalyzing VO²⁺/VO₂⁺ redox reaction [J]. Journal of the Electrochemical Society, 2019, 166: A953-A959

[16] SunD, TangY, HeK, RenY, LiuS, WangH. Long-lived aqueous rechargeable lithium batteries using mesoporous LiTi₂(PO₄)₃@C anode [J]. Scientific Reports, 2015, 5: 17452-17459

[17] SunD, XueX, TangY, JingY, HuangB, RenY, YaoY, WangH, CaoG. High-rate LiTi₂(PO₄)₃@N-C composite via bi-nitrogen sources doping [J]. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 2015, 7: 28337-28345

[18] ParkM, RyuJ, KimY, ChoJ. Corn protein-derived nitrogen-doped carbon materials with oxygen-rich functional groups: A highly efficient electrocatalyst for all-vanadium redox flow batteries [J]. Energy & Environmental Science, 2014, 7: 3727-3735

[19] ParkM, JungYJ, KimJ, LeeH I, ChoJ. Synergistic effect of carbon nanofiber/nanotube composite catalyst on carbon felt electrode for high-performance all-vanadium redox flow battery [J]. Nano Letters, 2013, 13: 4833-4839

[20] LvY, ZhangJ, LvZ Q, WuC X, LiuY Y, WangH N, LuS F, XiangY. Enhanced electrochemical activity of carbon felt for V²⁺/V³⁺ redox reaction via combining KOH-etched pretreatment with uniform deposition of Bi nanoparticles [J]. Electrochimica Acta, 2017, 253: 78-84

[21] ZhangW, XiJ, LiZ, ZhouH, LiuL, WuZ, QiuX. Electrochemical activation of graphite felt electrode for VO²⁺/VO₂⁺ redox couple application [J]. Electrochimica Acta, 2013, 89: 429-435

[22] WuL, ShenY, YuL, XiJ, QiuX. Boosting vanadium flow battery performance by Nitrogen-doped carbon nanospheres electrocatalyst [J]. Nano Energy, 2016, 28: 19-28

[23] HuangY, DengQ, WuX, WangS. N, O Co-doped carbon felt for high-performance all-vanadium redox flow battery [J]. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 2017, 42: 7177-7185