Development of titanium 3D mesh interlayer for enhancing the electrochemical performance of zinc\u2013bromine flow battery

Je-Nam Lee,Ki Jae Kim,Eunbyul Do,Youngkwon Kim,Ji-Sang Yu

doi:10.1038/s41598-021-83347-1

Je-Nam Lee, Ki Jae Kim + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-83347-1

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Abstract

Zinc dendrite growth negatively affects zinc–bromine flow battery (ZBB) performance by causing membrane damage, inducing self-discharge. Herein, in a ZBB, a conventional polymer mesh was replaced with a titanium-based mesh interlayer; this provided additional abundant active sites for the Zn2+/Zn redox reaction and well-developed electrolyte flow channels, which resulted in improved reaction kinetics and suppressed Zn dendrite growth. Compared with a ZBB cell comprising a conventional polymer mesh and a carbon-based electrode, the ZBB cell using the titanium mesh interlayer and a carbon-based electrode showed significantly reduced frequency of the refreshing process, which occurs at regular cycling intervals during practical use for removing residual zinc dendrites in ZBB; also, the average energy efficiency at a current density of 40 mA cm−2 increased by 38.5%. Moreover, the modified ZBB cell exhibited higher energy efficiency at a high current density of 80 mA cm−2, which is an improvement of 14.7% than in case of the contemporary polymer mesh. Consequently, this study can provide helpful insights for new anode side structures including spacer mesh for developing high-performance ZBBs.

Highlights

The increasing deployment of intermittent renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind power, has increased the demand for large-scale electrical storage devices to improve grid reliability and power quality[1,2,3,4,5,6,7]
This study aims to enhance the electrochemical performance of a carbon-polymer electrode by replacing a polymer mesh with a three-dimensional (3D) titanium mesh as a spacer
After 80 h storage, severe corrosion is observed in the zinc–bromine flow battery (ZBB) electrolyte containing aluminum and copper, while there is no significant change in the case of titanium (Fig. 2b,d)

Summary

Introduction

The increasing deployment of intermittent renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind power, has increased the demand for large-scale electrical storage devices to improve grid reliability and power quality[1,2,3,4,5,6,7]. A polymer mesh is placed as a spacer between a carbon-polymer electrode and separator to provide an electrolyte pathway and retain dimensional stability in practical use of ZBBs. the polymer mesh is not an electric conductor; its use results in reduced effective active area of the carbon-polymer electrode for zinc plating and stripping and limits the charging current d ensity[21,22]. Material design of the spacer in the negative side should be examined to ensure effective utilization of the carbon-composite electrode for Zn plating and stripping as well as suppression of Zn dendrite growth on the surface of the negative electrode. By using a titanium spacer material instead of polymer, the proposed anode structure effectively alleviates zinc dendrite growth and enhances the kinetics of the anode material, facilitating good rate capability (Fig. 1)

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