In situ growth of CoO on MXene sheets for modification of all‑vanadium redox flow battery electrodes

Abstract

In order to greatly improve the energy efficiency and electrolyte utilization efficiency of vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFBs) and to enable them to operate at high current densities, MXene/CoO composites were used for the first time in this research as electrocatalysts for the V3+/V2+ reaction. The catalytic effect of the materials was characterized by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectra (EIS) tests. Then battery performance of MXene/CoO composite modified plasma-treated graphite felt (GF) negative electrodes (MXene/CoO/GF) were tested in a VRFB. The results show that MXene/CoO composites can improve the catalytic activity. There is a 22.93 % increase in energy efficiency and 124.94 % increase in electrolyte utilization efficiency when MXene/CoO/GF is applied as VRFB negative electrode at a current density of 200 mA cm−2 compared to GF. At a current density of 250 mA cm−2, the energy efficiency of MXene/CoO/GF is maintained at 75.55 %. The excellent performance is attributed to the addition of MXene/CoO, which increases the active sites for redox reactions and thus improves the kinetics of the V3+/V2+ reaction.