Highly functionalized nanoporous thin carbon paper electrodes for high energy density of zero-gap vanadium redox flow battery

Abstract

Low energy density of a vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB) due to limited solubility and stability of vanadium ions constrains its wide spread applications and this issue becomes more critical by low active surface areas of electrodes and mass transport limitations of active species on the electrodes that lead to low electrolyte utilization. In this study the issue of low energy density is addressed by improving the electrode performance through modifying the surface properties and morphology of thin (0.19 mm thick) carbon paper electrodes instead of commonly used several millimeters thick carbon felts. Surface functionalization and pore formation of carbon paper are carried out using a catalytic etching method at high temperaturewhere the diameters of nanopores are controlled by tuning the etching conditions. The synergistic effects of thin, nanoporous and functionalized carbon paper result in more effective electrode/electrolyte interaction and the less mass transport resistance. Therefore, the zero-gap VRFB cell employing the nanoporous electrodes displays remarkable performance improvement in terms of electrolyte utilization by 110%, discharge energy density by 155% and energy efficiency by 29% as compared to the one using pristine electrodes at a current density of 50 mA cm(-2). The results imply that the more energy can be harvested by employing nanoporous and functionalized carbon paper electrodes having larger active surface areas.