Towards Production of a Highly Catalytic and Stable Graphene-Wrapped Graphite Felt Electrode for Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries

Seyedabolfazl Mousavihashemi, Sebastián Murcia-López, Mir Ghasem Hosseini, Joan Ramón Morante, Cristina Flox*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

4 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Despite the appealing features of vanadium redox flow batteries as a promising energy storage solution, the polarization losses, among other factors, prevent widespread applications. The dominant contribution to these polarization losses is the sluggish (even irreversible) electron-transfer towards reactions, leading to large over-potentials (poor rate capability). In particular, the positive half-cell reaction suffers from a complex mechanism since electron- and oxygen-transfer processes are key steps towards efficient kinetics. Thus, the positive reaction calls for electrodes with a large number of active sites, faster electron transfer, and excellent electrical properties. To face this issue, a graphene-wrapped graphite felt (GO-GF) electrode was synthesized by an electrospray process as a cost-effective and straightforward way, leading to a firm control of the GO-deposited layer-by-layer. The voltage value was optimized to produce a homogeneous deposition over a GF electrode after achieving a stable Taylor cone-jet. The GO-GF electrode was investigated by cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy in order to elucidate the electrocatalytic properties. Both analyses reflect this excellent improvement by reducing the over-potentials, improving reversibility, and enhancing collected current density. These findings confirm that the GO-GF is a promising electrode for high-performance VRFB, overcoming the performance-limiting issues in a positive half-reaction.
Original languageEnglish
Article number63
JournalBatteries
Volume4
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 3 Dec 2018
MoE publication typeA1 Journal article-refereed

Funding

Authors thank Generalitat de Catalunya for financial support through the CERCA Program, MINECO for additional support by coordinated project ENE2016-80788-C5-5-R, M2E under the Grant No. 2017SGR1246, and Fundación Ramón Areces funding through BAT-LIMET project. S.M.-L. gratefully acknowledges support from Spanish government under Grant no. FJCI-2014-19745. The authors are grateful to the financial support of Iranian National Committee of Nanotechnology in Ministry of Science, Research and Technology and the office of Vice Chancellor in Charge of Research of University of Tabriz.

Keywords

  • Deposition
  • Electrocatalysis
  • Electrode materials
  • Electrospray
  • Graphene oxide
  • Hybrid materials
  • Reversibility
  • Vanadium redox flow batteries

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