Graphite felt electrode modified with MWCNTs-COOH-NS for vanadium flow battery

doi:10.19799/j.cnki.2095-4239.2021.0183

Abstract

Abstract:

The low electrochemical activity of the polyacrylonitrile graphite felt electrode limits the development of all vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB). Nitrogen and sulfur co-doped carboxylic multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs-COOH-NS) were prepared as a VRFB catalyst using thiourea as a doping source to improve the performance of positive electrodes in VRFB. Composite electrodes were manufactured by attaching MWCNTs-COOH-NS to polyacrylonitrile graphite felt. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), specific surface area (BET), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), conductivity measurement, cyclic voltammetry (CV), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), and charge-discharge tests were used to investigate the surface morphology and electrochemical properties of the composite electrode. According to the results, the composite electrode had a larger surface area and a lower internal resistance. When the current density is 80 mA/cm², the battery's energy efficiency is 81.70%, and the discharge capacity is 782.60 mA·h. Under the condition of 160 mA/cm², the battery's energy efficiency can still reach 72.73%. On the positive side, MWCNTs-COOH-NS modified graphite felt electrode exhibits good catalytic activity and electrochemical reversibility for the redox reaction of vanadium ions. In the charge-discharge test, the cell shows good cycle stability. This study is helpful to promote the development of VRFB electrode catalysts.

Key words: vanadium redox flow batteries, graphite felt, electrode, surface modification

CLC Number:

TK 02

Qiang LI, Junnan WANG, Hong SUN. Graphite felt electrode modified with MWCNTs-COOH-NS for vanadium flow battery[J]. Energy Storage Science and Technology, 2021, 10(6): 2097-2105.

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样品名称	C/%	O/%	N/%	S/%
GF	88.58	10.53	0.67	0.22
MWCNTs-GF	91.14	7.96	0.67	0.23
MWCNTs-COOH-GF	90.30	8.81	0.68	0.21
MWCNTs-COOH-NS-GF	90.06	8.21	1.19	0.54

样品名称	C＝C/%	C－C/%	C－OH/%	HO－C＝O/%
GF	81.25	11.61	3.67	3.47
MWCNTs-GF	80.19	11.31	4.60	3.90
MWCNTs-COOH-GF	49.32	35.25	8.10	7.33
MWCNTs-COOH-NS-GF	45.85	39.16	7.58	7.41

样品名称	比表面积/(m²/g^-1)
GF	0.62
MWCNTs-GF	1.53
MWCNTs-COOH-GF	2.01
MWCNTs-COOH-NS-GF	3.52

样品名称	电阻/(Ω·cm)	电导率/(S/cm)
GF	2.3×10^-2	43.27
MWCNTs-GF	2.0×10^-2	50.01
MWCNTs-COOH-GF	1.7×10^-2	58.82
MWCNTs-COOH-NS-GF	1.2×10^-2	83.31

样品名称	R₁/Ω	R₂/Ω
GF	0.46	28.76
MWCNTs-GF	0.45	16.58
MWCNTs-COOH-GF	0.45	11.27
MWCNTs-COOH-NS-GF	0.43	6.36