Tire Waste Derived Turbostratic Carbon as an Electrode for a Vanadium Redox Flow Battery

Abstract

For the first time, we report the synthesis of turbostratic carbon derived from tire waste with high surface area and its utilization as an electrode material in vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFBs). The tire waste carbon was initially subjected to acid demineralization followed by KOH activation wherein the carbon to KOH ratio was varied (1:1, 1:2, and 1:5), and the electrochemical performance toward VO2+/VO2 +, V3+/V4+, and V2+/V3+ redox reactions was investigated. The turbostratic nature of carbon derived from tire waste was confirmed by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and Raman spectroscopy. Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) measurements revealed the surface area was as high as 875 m2·g–1 for the 1:5 KOH activated sample. The electrochemical performance of pretreated carbon (TW) and turbostratic carbon (1:1, 1:2, and 1:5) was compared by cyclic voltammetry, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, and galvanostatic charge–discharge methods. Our results indicated that the 1:5 KOH activated electrode exhibited the highest surface area and performed much better than the other ratios in terms of overall electrochemical performance including high peak current, less peak potential difference, low polarization potential, small charge-transfer resistance, high charge–discharge capacity, high Coulombic efficiency, and high energy efficiency. Further, a full cell was fabricated and its electrochemical performance was tested. The results indicated impressive electrochemical performance with Coulombic efficiency as 87% at 10 mA·cm–2 along with stable cycling behavior up to 200 cycles, thus signifying the tire waste derived turbostratic carbon offers great promise as high-performance electrodes for VRFB applications.

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

“…A power bank was assembled via stacking of six cells and charge–discharge at voltage range from 5 to 11 V. Interesting results were observed such CE ~83%, VE ~77%, and EE ~64%, at the end of 1000 cycles. In another study, turbostratic carbon (TC) derived from pretreated industrial waste tire carbon and KOH activation in different ratio (1:1, 1:2, and 1:5) was reported by Kumar et al (2018). Hydrophilic nature was measured by contact angle and was improved as the amount of KOH increased.…”

“…SEM images of the mesoporous AC derived from (a) coconut shell (reprinted with permission (through Copyright Clearance Centre) from Ulaganathan et al (2015). Copyright © 2014 Elsevier), (b) sugarcane bagasse (reprinted with permission (through Copyright Clearance Centre) from Mahanta et al (2019), Copyright © 2019 Elsevier), (c) tire waste (reprinted with permission (through Copyright Clearance Centre) from Kumar et al (2018), Copyright © 2018 American Chemical Society); and Cyclic voltammograms (CVs) of cell using AC electrocatalyst derived from (d) coconut shell at scan rate 5 mV s −1 in 0.85 M VO 2+ + 0.85 M V 3+ + 4 M H 2 SO 4 (reprinted with permission (through Copyright Clearance Centre) from Ulaganathan et al (2015), Copyright © 2014 Elsevier), (e) sugarcane bagasse at scan rate 10 mV s −1 in 0.1M VO 2+ + 2.5 M H 2 SO 4 (reprinted with permission (through Copyright Clearance Centre) from Mahanta et al (2019), Copyright © 2019 Elsevier), (f) tire waste at scan rate 10 mV s −1 in 0.1 M VO 2+ + 2 M H 2 SO 4 (reprinted with permission (through Copyright Clearance Centre) from Kumar et al (2018), Copyright © 2018 American Chemical Society)…”

Recent Development of Carbon-based Electrode for Vanadium Redox Flow Battery

“…45 A cocoon, which is a protein-rich natural polymer fiber composite, can be easily obtained from the life cycle of a silkworm. Other new ideas, namely CEs derived from bio-mass (porous graphitic carbon), 46 tire waste (turbostratic carbon), 47 and Sal wood sawdust (mesoporous carbon) 48 are also efficient electrodes for vanadium RFBs. These CEs have attracted particular attention in the energy storage field because of their diversity, environmentally friendly materials, and cost performance.…”

Characterization of Chemically Activated Pyrolytic Carbon Black Derived from Waste Tires as a Candidate for Nanomaterial Precursor

“…Chemical activation consists of the impregnation of waste tire powder with a chemical agent prior to carbonization [20]. A wide variety of chemical agents have been used with the aim of activating waste tire powders, including H 2 SO 4 [22,23], H 2 O 2 [24], H 3 PO 4 [24,25], HCl [23], and KOH [18,[25][26][27][28][29]. The nature of the activating agent has a strong effect on carbon black characteristics [30].…”