Recent progress on carbon and metal based electrocatalysts for vanadium redox flow battery

Abstract

Attractive features of vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB) such as long durability, easy scalability, and low levelized cost of energy have influenced its prominence in the sectors where renewable energy is to be stored at a large scale. However, viability of VRFB to be used for a wide‐range of applications such as household electrification, electric vehicle charging infrastructure, and so on has been limited by its low power density. In principle, the power density of VRFB is dependent upon rate of electrochemical reaction on the electrode. The electrochemical properties of the electrode can be improved either by pretreatment of the electrode or by depositing electrocatalyst on the electrode. The use of electrocatalyst helps to lower overpotential losses and reduces the charge‐transfer resistance, which results the VRFB to operate at higher current densities. This review discusses the development and progress of carbon and metal‐based electrocatalyst that have been used for VRFB applications. This article is categorized under: Fuel Cells and Hydrogen > Science and Materials Energy Efficiency > Science and Materials Energy and Development > Science and Materials

Electrochemically induced catalytic adsorption sites in spent lithium-ion battery cathodes for high-rate vanadium redox flow batteries

“…Previous studies have reported improved electrochemical activity by applying electrocatalysts in carbon materials. [15][16][17][18][19] Transition metal oxides have attracted signicant attention as electrocatalysts because of the variable oxidation state of a transition metal that facilitates the redox reaction and the oxygen vacancy, which increases the electrochemical activity as an active site. 20,21 Oxygen vacancies have been intentionally employed in transition metal oxides as active sites for several electrochemical reactions in the eld of defect engineering.…”

Review—Flow Batteries from 1879 to 2022 and Beyond

“…We would like to mention here in passing, that the electrocatalytic effects in VRFB reactions is comparatively (to H 2 and O 2 electrocatalysis) weak, often poorly reproducible and time-dependent. [286][287][288][289][290][291][292][293][294][295][296][297][298][299][300][301][302][303][304] We shall note also, that some of the aforementioned "quantum jumps" refer principally to academic innovations, as they have proven hard to scale-up and have not been universally-adopted by the flow-battery industry. 238 In conclusion of this section we shall ask ourselves the question: why do we want to increase the area-specific power of RFB stack ?…”

Technical benchmarking and challenges of kilowatt scale vanadium redox flow battery

“…Improved hydrophilicity and higher active surface area is essential for attaining a uniform potential and current distribution on the surface of electrode and higher electrolyte utilization (Gautam et al, 2020). Whereas appropriate electrocatalysis of the redox reactions on the surface of electrode is essential for reducing the overpotential losses by enhancing the reaction kinetics (Liu et al, 2018; Singh et al, 2021). Several methods of pretreatment of bare GF at fundamental level have been explored and are still under exploration (Gautam & Verma, 2020; B. Li et al, 2013; Maleki et al, 2020; Mehboob et al, 2018; Wei et al, 2012).…”

“…The adverse effects of production of electrical energy from conventional fossil fuels have influenced the prominence of renewable energy resources (Kwabi et al, 2020; Singh et al, 2021). However, it is well known that the renewable energy resources are intermittent in nature thus the sustainability in the current ecosystem is primarily dependent on the availability of technologically and commercially viable electrical energy conversion and storage technology (Winter & Brodd, 2004).…”