Munaiah, Y. and Suresh, S. and Dheenadayalan, S. and Vijayamohanan, K.Pillai and Raghupathy, P. (2014) Comparative Electrocatalytic Performance of Single-Walled and Multiwalled Carbon Nanotubes for Zinc Bromine Redox Flow Batteries. Journal of Physical Chemistry D, 118. pp. 14795-14804.

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Abstract

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have been employed as electrode materials in rechargeable zinc bromine redox flow batteries (ZBB) owing to their high electrocatalytic activity, remarkable electrical conductivity, and excellent mechanical strength with high Young’s modulus. The electrocatalytic effect of single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) and multiwalled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) electrodes for the 2Br−/Br2 redox couple has been investigated for zinc bromine redox flow battery application. The anodic peak current density of SWCNT electrode is found to be about 16 mA cm−2 , which is almost 50% higher than that of MWCNT, indicating the enhanced electrocatalytic effect of SWCNT perhaps due to a large amount of basal planes. The peak separation between the anodic and cathodic process at SWCNT and MWCNT electrodes is 201 and 126 mV, respectively, demonstrating the quasireversible nature of the 2Br−/Br2 redox reaction. Moreover, the peak separation for the MWCNT electrode is 37% less compared to that on the SWCNT electrode, revealing better reversibility. FTIR, Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) have been used to further investigate the composition and morphological changes of CNT before and after cycling. Zinc bromine redox flow cell made with CNT-anchored carbon felt (CF) as bromine electrode exhibits improved electrochemical performance in terms of efficiency and durability. Particularly, SWCNT-modified electrode possesses 98% energy efficiency retention even after 200 cycles of charge−discharge process, offering great promise as high-performance electrodes for zinc bromine redox flow battery

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: Carbon Nanotube; Multiwalled; Zinc Bromine
Subjects: Electrochemical Materials Science
Electrochemical Power Sources
Divisions: UNSPECIFIED
Depositing User: Dr. N Meyyappan
Date Deposited: 26 Dec 2014 08:41
Last Modified: 26 Dec 2014 08:41
URI: http://cecri.csircentral.net/id/eprint/3086

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