Differentiation of the non-faradaic and pseudocapacitive electrochemical response of graphite felt/CuFeS2 composite electrodes

Lead-acid battery (LAB) weight is a major downside stopping it from being adapted to electric/hybrid vehicles. Lead grids constitute up to 50% of LAB electrode’s weight and it only ensures electric connection to electrochemically active material and provides structural integrity. Using graphite felt (GF) as a current collector can reduce the electrode’s weight while increasing the surface area. Modification of GF with lead (II) oxide using impregnation and calcination techniques and lead (II) formate and acetate as precursors was conducted to produce composite electrodes. It was found that lead (II) formate is not a viable material for this purpose, whereas multiple impregnation in lead (II) acetate saturated solution and calcination in air leads to thermal destruction GF. However, impregnation and calcination under nitrogen atmosphere in three cycles produced a sample of good quality with a mass loading of lead (II) oxide that was 17.18 g g−1 GF. This equates to only 5.5% of the total mass of composite electrode to be GF, which is immensely lower than lead grid mass in traditional electrodes. This result shows that a possible lightweight alternative of LAB electrode can be produced using the proposed modification method.

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Electrodeposition of Pb and PbO2 on Graphite Felt in Membraneless Flow-Through Reactor: A Method to Prepare Lightweight Electrode Grids for Lead-Acid Batteries

Materials ◽

10.3390/ma14206122 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 14 (20) ◽

pp. 6122

Author(s):

Arminas Ilginis ◽

Nerita Žmuidzinavičienė ◽

Egidijus Griškonis

Keyword(s):

Carbon Surface ◽

Composite Electrodes ◽

Graphite Felt ◽

Electrochemically Deposited ◽

Flow Through ◽

Adequate Coverage ◽

Triton X ◽

Lower Electrical Resistivity ◽

Pbo2 Electrodes ◽

Lead Acid

One of the possible ways of mitigating the primary lead-acid battery downside—mass— is to replace the heavy lead grids that can add up to half of the total electrode’s mass. The grids can be exchanged for a lightweight, chemically inert, and conductive material such as graphite felt. To reduce carbon surface area, Pb/PbO2 can be electrochemically deposited on graphite felt. A flow-through reactor was applied to enhance penetration of adequate coverage of graphite felt fibers. Three types of electrolytes (acetate, nitrate, and methanesulfonate) and two additives (ligninsulfonate and Triton X-100) were tested. The prepared composite electrodes showed greater mechanical strength, up to 5 times lower electrical resistivity, and acted as Pb and PbO2 electrodes in sulfuric acid electrolytes.

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Tin dioxide as a high-performance catalyst towards Ce(vi)/Ce(iii) redox reactions for redox flow battery applications

Journal of Materials Chemistry A ◽

10.1039/c6ta09274h ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 5 (10) ◽

pp. 5036-5043 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Zhaolin Na ◽

Xuxu Wang ◽

Dongming Yin ◽

Limin Wang

Keyword(s):

Electrocatalytic Activity ◽

Redox Reactions ◽

High Performance ◽

Tin Dioxide ◽

Composite Electrodes ◽

Redox Flow Battery ◽

Flow Battery ◽

Graphite Felt ◽

First Time

SnO2/graphite felt composite electrodes exhibiting excellent electrocatalytic activity toward cerium redox reactions are developed for the first time.

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