Catalytic effects of heteroatom-rich carbon-based freestanding paper with high active-surface area for vanadium redox flow batteries

초록

Owing to their scalability, flexible operation, and long cycle life, vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFBs) have gained immense attention over the past few years. However, the VRFBs suffer from significant polarization, which decreases their cell efficiency. The activation polarization occurring during vanadium redox reactions greatly affects the overall performance of VRFBs. Therefore, it is imperative to develop electrodes with numerous catalytic sites and a long cycle life. In this study, we synthesized heteroatom-rich carbon-based freestanding papers (H-CFP5) by a facile dispersion and filtration process. The H-CFPs exhibited high specific surface area (similar to 820 m(2) g(-1)) along with a number of redox-active heteroatoms (such as oxygen and nitrogen) and showed high catalytic activity for vanadium redox reactions. The H-CFP electrodes showed excellent electrochemical performance. They showed low anodic and cathodic peak potential separation (Delta E-p) values of similar to 120 mV (positive electrolyte) and similar to 124 mV (negative electrolyte) in cyclic voltammetry conducted at a scan rate of 5 mV s(-1). Hence, the H-CFP-based VRFBs showed significantly reduced polarization.

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