High performance electrodes in vanadium redox flow batteries through oxygen-enriched thermal activation

Abstract The roundtrip electrochemical energy efficiency is improved from 63% to 76% at a current density of 200 mA cm −2 in an all-vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB) by utilizing modified carbon paper electrodes in the high-performance no-gap design. Heat treatment of the carbon paper electrodes in a 42% oxygen/58% nitrogen atmosphere increases the electrochemically wetted surface area from 0.24 to 51.22 m 2  g −1 , resulting in a 100–140 mV decrease in activation overpotential at operationally relevant current densities. An enriched oxygen environment decreases the amount of treatment time required to achieve high surface area. The increased efficiency and greater depth of discharge doubles the total usable energy stored in a fixed amount of electrolyte during operation at 200 mA cm −2 .