Carbon Aerogel Based Thin Electrodes for Zero-Gap all Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries – Quantifying the Factors Leading to Optimum Performance
Publication Date
2022Journal Title
ChemElectroChem
ISSN
2196-0216
Publisher
Wiley
Volume
9
Issue
5
Language
en
Type
Article
This Version
AO
VoR
Metadata
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Parra-Puerto, A., Rubio-Garcia, J., Markiewicz, M., Zheng, Z., & Kucernak, A. (2022). Carbon Aerogel Based Thin Electrodes for Zero-Gap all Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries – Quantifying the Factors Leading to Optimum Performance. ChemElectroChem, 9 (5) https://doi.org/10.1002/celc.202101617
Description
Funder: Shell Global Solutions International B.V.
Abstract
Abstract: Direct growth of resorcinol−formaldehyde carbon aerogels (CAGs) on carbon paper electrodes was achieved using a new approach. Materials with variations in density, mesoporosity and microporosity were prepared. Microstructural properties of the resultant thin electrodes are shown to directly influence performance in zero‐gap redox flow battery (RFB). BET analysis shows a total surface area between 643 to 931 m2 g−1. Deposition of only ≈15 wt.% CAG on the carbon electrode leads to a 320‐fold increase in electrochemical surface area. Analysis of the results saw a strong positive correlation of RFB performance with surface area. The best performing electrodes had a good balance between microporous and external surface area, and on the macroscopic scale had sufficiently large pores to allow efficient electrolyte permeation. The poorest performing electrodes which had the highest surface area, also had poor macroscopic porosity leading to large mass transport and solution resistance losses. The best performing electrodes were tested in a zero‐gap setup using polarization curves, showing a 25 % increase in power density at 100 mA cm−2 and a peak power density of 706 mW cm−2 at 1 V using thin electrodes.
Keywords
Research Article, Research Articles, Carbon Aerogel, Carbon Paper, Redox Flow Battery, Vanadium, Zero-Gap
Sponsorship
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/N032888/1)
Identifiers
celc202101617
External DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/celc.202101617
This record's URL: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/334538
Rights
Licence:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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