Characteristics of graphite felt electrodes treated by atmospheric pressure plasma jets for an all-vanadium redox flow battery
Journal
Materials
Journal Volume
14
Journal Issue
14
Date Issued
2021
Author(s)
Abstract
In an all-vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB), redox reaction occurs on the fiber surface of the graphite felts. Therefore, the VRFB performance highly depends on the characteristics of the graphite felts. Although atmospheric pressure plasma jets (APPJs) have been applied for surface modification of graphite felt electrode in VRFBs for the enhancement of electrochemical reactivity, the influence of APPJ plasma reactivity and working temperature (by changing the flow rate) on the VRFB performance is still unknown. In this work, the performance of the graphite felts with different APPJ plasma reactivity and working temperatures, changed by varying the flow rates (the conditions are denoted as APPJ temperatures hereafter), was analyzed and compared with those treated with sulfuric acid. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) indicated that the APPJ treatment led to an increase in O-/N-containing functional groups on the GF surface to ~21.0% as compared to ~15.0% for untreated GF and 18.0% for H2SO4-treated GF. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) indicated that the surface morphology of graphite felt electrodes was still smooth, and no visible changes were detected after oxidation in the sulfuric acid or after APPJ treatment. The polarization measurements indicated that the APPJ treatment increased the limiting current densities from 0.56 A·cm?2 for the GFs treated by H2SO4 to 0.64, 0.68, and 0.64 A·cm?2, respectively, for the GFs APPJ-treated at 450, 550, and 650?C, as well as reduced the activation overpotential when compared with the H2SO4-treated electrode. The electrochemical charge/discharge measurements showed that the APPJ treatment temperature of 550?C gave the highest energy efficiency of 83.5% as compared to 72.0% with the H2SO4 treatment. ? 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
Subjects
All-vanadium redox flow battery
Atmospheric pressure plasma jets
Graphite felt
Limiting current density
Overpotential
Atmospheric movements
Atmospheric pressure
Atmospheric temperature
Energy efficiency
Felt
Felts
Flow batteries
Graphite
Graphite electrodes
Morphology
Plasma jets
Redox reactions
Scanning electron microscopy
Sulfuric acid
Surface morphology
Vanadium
X ray photoelectron spectroscopy
Activation overpotential
All vanadium redox flow battery
Electrochemical charge/discharge
Electrochemical reactivity
Polarization measurements
Treatment temperature
Electrochemical electrodes
SDGs
Type
journal article