Atmospheric Pressure Tornado Plasma Jet of Polydopamine Coating on Graphite Felt for Improving Electrochemical Performance in Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries

The intrinsic hydrophobicity of graphite felt (GF) is typically altered for the purpose of the surface wettability and providing active sites for the enhancement of electrochemical performance. In this work, commercial GF is used as the electrodes. The GF electrode with a coated-polydopamine catalyst is achieved to enhance the electrocatalytic activity of GF for the redox reaction of vanadium ions in vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB). Materials characteristics proved that a facile coating via atmospheric pressure plasma jet (APPJ) to alter the surface superhydrophilicity and to deposit polydopamine on GF for providing the more active sites is feasibly achieved. Due to the synergistic effects of the presence of more active sites on the superhydrophilic surface of modified electrodes, the electrochemical performance toward VO2+/VO2+ reaction was evidently improved. We believed that using the APPJ technique as a coating method for electrocatalyst preparation offers the oxygen-containing functional groups on the substrate surface on giving a hydrogen bonding with the grafted functional polymeric materials.

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Effect of nitrogen functionalization of graphite felt electrode by ultrasonication on the electrochemical performance of vanadium redox flow battery

Materials Chemistry and Physics ◽

10.1016/j.matchemphys.2019.121873 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 237 ◽

pp. 121873 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Chulsang Youn ◽

Shin Ae Song ◽

Kiyoung Kim ◽

Ju Young Woo ◽

Young-Wook Chang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Electrochemical Performance ◽

Vanadium Redox Flow Battery ◽

Redox Flow Battery ◽

Flow Battery ◽

Graphite Felt ◽

Vanadium Redox ◽

Nitrogen Functionalization

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Outstanding electrochemical performance of a graphene-modified graphite felt for vanadium redox flow battery application

Journal of Power Sources ◽

10.1016/j.jpowsour.2016.10.069 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 338 ◽

pp. 155-162 ◽

Cited By ~ 61

Author(s):

Zoraida González ◽

Cristina Flox ◽

Clara Blanco ◽

Marcos Granda ◽

Juan R. Morante ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Electrochemical Performance ◽

Vanadium Redox Flow Battery ◽

Redox Flow Battery ◽

Flow Battery ◽

Graphite Felt ◽

Vanadium Redox ◽

Battery Application

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Metal-Organic Frameworks Derived Catalyst for High-Performance Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries

Catalysts ◽

10.3390/catal11101188 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (10) ◽

pp. 1188

Author(s):

Yun-Ting Ou ◽

Daniel Manaye Kabtamu ◽

Anteneh Wodaje Bayeh ◽

Hung-Hsien Ku ◽

Yu-Lin Kuo ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Active Sites ◽

High Performance ◽

Metal Organic Frameworks ◽

High Specific Surface Area ◽

Vanadium Redox Flow Battery ◽

Graphite Felt ◽

Stability Performance ◽

Metal Organic ◽

Graphite Structure ◽

Vanadium Redox

Vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB) is one of the most promising technologies for grid-scale energy storage applications because of its numerous attractive features. In this study, metal-organic frameworks (MOF)-derived catalysts (MDC) are fabricated using carbonization techniques at different sintering temperatures. Zirconium-based MOF-derived catalyst annealed at 900 °C exhibits the best electrochemical activity toward VO2+/VO2+ redox couple among all samples. Furthermore, the charge-discharge test confirms that the energy efficiency (EE) of the VRFB assembled with MOF-derived catalyst modified graphite felt (MDC-GF-900) is 3.9% more efficient than the VRFB using the pristine graphite felt at 100 mA cm−2. Moreover, MDC-GF-900 reveals 31% and 107% higher capacity than the pristine GF at 80 and 100 mA cm−2, respectively. The excellent performance of MDC-GF-900 results from the existence of oxygen-containing groups active sites, graphite structure with high conductivity embedded with zirconium oxide, and high specific surface area, which are critical points for promoting the vanadium redox reactions. Because of these advantages, MDC-GF-900 also possesses superior stability performance, which shows no decline of EE even after 100 cycles at 100 mA cm−2.

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Characteristics of Graphite Felt Electrodes Treated by Atmospheric Pressure Plasma Jets for an All-Vanadium Redox Flow Battery

Materials ◽

10.3390/ma14143847 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 14 (14) ◽

pp. 3847

Author(s):

Tossaporn Jirabovornwisut ◽

Bhupendra Singh ◽

Apisada Chutimasakul ◽

Jung-Hsien Chang ◽

Jian-Zhang Chen ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Sulfuric Acid ◽

Atmospheric Pressure ◽

Atmospheric Pressure Plasma ◽

Plasma Jets ◽

Vanadium Redox Flow Battery ◽

Redox Flow Battery ◽

Flow Battery ◽

Graphite Felt ◽

Vanadium Redox ◽

Felt Electrodes

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.

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