Exploration of Biomass-derived Activated Carbons for Use in Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries
| Autor: | Jack William Barotta, Gang Han, Morgan J. Hawker, Antoni Forner-Cuenca, Hyun-Chae Loh, Fikile R. Brushett, Charles Tai-Chieh Wan, Markus J. Buehler, Yet-Ming Chiang, David L. Kaplan, Francisco J. Martin-Martinez, Admir Masic, Diego López Barreiro |
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| Přispěvatelé: | Membrane Materials and Processes, EIRES System Integration |
| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2020 |
| Předmět: |
General Chemical Engineering
Biomass Vanadium chemistry.chemical_element 02 engineering and technology 010402 general chemistry Electrochemistry Electrocatalyst chitin 7. Clean energy 01 natural sciences Redox Environmental Chemistry electrocatalyst vanadium redox flow battery SDG 7 - Affordable and Clean Energy biomass Renewable Energy Sustainability and the Environment General Chemistry 021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology 0104 chemical sciences chemistry Chemical engineering 13. Climate action Electrode 0210 nano-technology Carbon SDG 7 – Betaalbare en schone energie wood |
| Zdroj: | ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, 8(25). American Chemical Society |
| ISSN: | 2168-0485 |
| Popis: | Increasing redox reaction rates on carbon electrodes is an important step to reducing the cost of all-vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFBs). Biomass-derived activated carbons (ACs) hold promise as they may obviate the need for post-synthetic modifications common to conventional materials. While initial efforts have shown that these materials can enhance VRFB performance, the wide selection of potentially-inexpensive feedstocks and synthesis routes lead to a collection of electrocatalytic materials with disparate physical, chemical, and electrochemical properties, challenging the development of generalizable design principles. Here, we employ a hydrothermal processing (HTP) technique to produce elementally-diverse ACs, varying biomass feedstock composition and HTP temperature. Specifically, we study ACs derived from chitin which contain nitrogen and oxygen functionalities, and ACs derived from pine wood which contain oxygen functionalities. Using Vulcan XC72 as a comparator, we apply spectroscopic, electrochemical and computational techniques, finding electrochemically accessible surface area, rather than heteroatom composition, to be the more representative performance indicator. Evaluation of the best-performing AC in a VRFB reveals ~100 mW cm-2 improvement in peak power density when deposited into felt electrodes. The feedstock-processing-property relationships studied in this work represent a systematic approach to advancing biomass-based functional materials for use in energy applications. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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