Prospects of Carbon Based Micro-Fluid Electrolyte for the Vanadium Redox Flow Battery (VRB)

The effects of carbon black particle dispersed in the electrolyte and used in a modified VRB which was traditionally used of carbon felt as electrode has been removed were studied. The adding of the carbon black particle reduced both activation overpotential and ohmic overpotential especially at low OCV. The functional group on the surface of the carbon black particle helps to increase the rate of reaction which results in the reduction of activation overpotential. When the electrolyte with the carbon black particle dispersed flows into the cell, it is possible that some of carbon particles settle on the surface of current collectors and this effectively increases the surface area of current collectors. Hence, it reduces the ohmic overpotential.