Highly active, bi-functional and metal-free B4C-nanoparticle-modified graphite felt electrodes for vanadium redox flow batteries

H. R. Jiang, W. Shyy, M. C. Wu, L. Wei, T. S. Zhao

Research output: Journal article publicationJournal articleAcademic researchpeer-review

73 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The potential of B4C as a metal-free catalyst for vanadium redox reactions is investigated by first-principles calculations. Results show that the central carbon atom of B4C can act as a highly active reaction site for redox reactions, due primarily to the abundant unpaired electrons around it. The catalytic effect is then verified experimentally by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) tests, both of which demonstrate that B4C nanoparticles can enhance the kinetics for both V2+/V3+ and VO2+/VO2+ redox reactions, indicating a bi-functional effect. The B4C-nanoparticle-modified graphite felt electrodes are finally prepared and tested in vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFBs). It is shown that the batteries with the prepared electrodes exhibit energy efficiencies of 88.9% and 80.0% at the current densities of 80 and 160 mA cm−2, which are 16.6% and 18.8% higher than those with the original graphite felt electrodes. With a further increase in current densities to 240 and 320 mA cm−2, the batteries can still maintain energy efficiencies of 72.0% and 63.8%, respectively. All these results show that the B4C-nanoparticle-modified graphite felt electrode outperforms existing metal-free catalyst modified electrodes, and thus can be promising electrodes for VRFBs.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)34-42
Number of pages9
JournalJournal of Power Sources
Volume365
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 15 Oct 2017
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • BC-Nanoparticle-modified graphite felt
  • Bi-functional
  • First-principles calculations
  • Metal-free
  • Vanadium redox flow batteries

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment
  • Energy Engineering and Power Technology
  • Physical and Theoretical Chemistry
  • Electrical and Electronic Engineering

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