Open AccessGraphitization of carbon-based catalyst for improving the performance of negative electrode in vanadium redox flow battery
Author(s) -
Bingxue Hou,
Rui Tang,
Qi Zhang,
Xumei Cui,
Yungui Chen
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
materials research express
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.383
H-Index - 35
ISSN - 2053-1591
DOI - 10.1088/2053-1591/abf6f8
Subject(s) - flow battery , vanadium , catalysis , electrode , redox , graphite , materials science , battery (electricity) , carbon fibers , chemical engineering , activated carbon , chemistry , composite material , metallurgy , organic chemistry , composite number , engineering , electrolyte , power (physics) , physics , quantum mechanics , adsorption
Carbon-based materials were prepared to catalyze the V 3+ /V 2+ couple of vanadium redox flow battery using chitosan as the preliminary material and FeCl 3 as activating agent. Graphite microcrystals were the main structures of the obtained catalyst (CTS-Fe-900) activated by FeCl 3 , and they contained a large number of curled and overlapped carbon nanosheets. Compared with CTS-D-900 (without FeCl 3 as an activating agent), CTS-Fe-900 exhibits a better structure, higher graphitization degree, stronger current response, and smaller charge transfer resistance. The charge/discharge measurements indicates that the performances of the cell are improved by using the CTS-Fe-900-modified negative electrode in terms of increased discharge capacity and energy efficiency. Compared with pristine cell, the capacity retention for the CTS-Fe-900 modified cell maintains 82.2% at 50 mA cm −2 after 50 cycles, increased by 5.2%, and the corresponding energy efficiency reaches 81.3%, enhanced by 5.1%. This work reveals that CTS-Fe-900 catalyst can improve the comprehensive energy storage performance. The excellent electrocatalytic properties are mainly attribute to the effect of the FeCl 3 template and the increase in the degree of graphitization.