title: Synergistic effect of carbon nanofiber/nanotube composite catalyst on carbon felt electrode for high-performance all-vanadium redox flow battery.
abstract: Carbon nanofiber/nanotube (CNF/CNT) composite catalysts grown on carbon felt (CF), prepared from a simple way involving the thermal decomposition of acetylene gas over Ni catalysts, are studied as electrode materials in a vanadium redox flow battery. The electrode with the composite catalyst prepared at 700 °C (denoted as CNF/CNT-700) demonstrates the best electrocatalytic properties toward the V(2+)/V(3+) and VO(2+)/VO2(+) redox couples among the samples prepared at 500, 600, 700, and 800 °C. Moreover, this composite electrode in the full cell exhibits substantially improved discharge capacity and energy efficiency by ~64% and by ~25% at 40 mA·cm(-2) and 100 mA·cm(-2), respectively, compared to untreated CF electrode. This outstanding performance is due to the enhanced surface defect sites of exposed edge plane in CNF and a fast electron transfer rate of in-plane side wall of the CNT.
authors.affiliation: School of Energy and Chemical Engineering, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) , 689-798, Ulsan, South Korea.
authors.forename: Minjoon
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Yang-jae
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Jung
authors.forename: Jungyun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Ho il
authors.initials: Hi
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Jeaphil
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cho
mesh_terms: D002244:Carbon / Q000737:chemistry*; D000077482:Carbon Fiber; D002384:Catalysis; D011211:Electric Power Supplies; D004566:Electrodes; D037742:Nanotubes, Carbon / Q000737:chemistry*; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction; D014639:Vanadium / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D000077482:Carbon Fiber; D037742:Nanotubes, Carbon; D014639:Vanadium; D002244:Carbon