A highly active biomass-derived electrode for all vanadium redox flow batteries. (10th September 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Zhang, Z.H.; Zhao, T.S.; Bai, B.F.; Zeng, L.; Wei, L.
• Is Part Of: Electrochimica acta. Volume 248(2017)
• Page Start: 197
• Page End: 205
• Publication Date: 2017-09-10
• Subjects: Vanadium flow battery -- Biomass electrode -- Cotton -- Surface area -- Catalytic activity; Electrochemistry -- Periodicals; Electrochemistry, Industrial -- Periodicals; 541.37
• DOI: 10.1016/j.electacta.2017.07.129
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0013-4686

Abstract

Highlights: Cotton-derived electrode was synthesized via a facile pyrolysis method. The carbonized cotton exhibited high surface area and good catalytic activity. The battery with CC electrode showed lower polarization and higher efficiency. The battery with CC electrode presented better rate capability. Abstract: In this work, we report an environmentally friendly and low-cost approach to synthesize an all biomass-derived electrode from cotton through a pyrolysis process and apply this novel electrode to a VRFB for the first time. It is demonstrated that this carbonized cotton (CC) electrode presents a higher BET surface area, a larger number of oxygen-containing functional groups, a better wettability and higher catalytic activity for vanadium reactions than commercial carbon papers (CPs) do. As a result, the CC electrode improves the reversibility toward VO 2+ /VO2 + by 100 mV lower peak separation as compared with commercial CPs. Moreover, the VRFB assembled with the prepared electrodes delivers a high voltage efficiency of 75.4% at a current density of 100 mA cm −2, outperforming the oxidized CPs (68.3%), and a better rate performance during the charge-discharge test at various current densities. These results suggest that the carbonized cotton electrode offers a great promise for the large-scale application in VRFBs.