Study of Substrate for the Zinc Electrode in Acid Zn-PbO2 Flow Battery

An investigation into the suitability of carbon materials, metallic lead and its alloys as substrates for the zinc electrode in acid Zn-PbO2 flow batteries was performed. No maximum current appears on the potentiostatic current transients recorded for the zinc deposition on the lead and its alloys. With increasing the overpotential, the progressive nucleation turns to be the 3D-instantaneous nucleation process employed for the resin-graphite composite. Hydrogen evolution on the graphite composite is effectively suppressed due to the doping of polymer resins. The rate of hydrogen evolution reaction on the lead is relatively weak, but on the lead alloys, the hydrogen evolution conversely becomes serious to a certain degree. Though the exchange current density of the zinc deposition and dissolution process on the graphite composite is relatively low, the zinc corrosion is weakened to a great extent. With the increase of deposition time, the zinc deposits tend to be more compact. Zinc galvanostatic charge-discharge cycling on the graphite composite reveals that the coulombic of over 90% can be found, exhibiting an excellent cycling stability.