Thiourea-Grafted Graphite Felts as Positive Electrode for Vanadium Redox Flow Battery

Strategic Way of Synthesizing Heteroatom-Doped Carbon Nano-onions Using Waste Chicken Fat Oil for Energy Storage Devices

An easy way of synthesizing low-cost carbon nanomaterials without the need for high-temperature processing approach is critical for energy storage applications because the demand has increased for affordable, long-term, and environmentally friendly synthesized carbon-based materials. Herein, we synthesized multilayered graphitic carbon nano-onions (CNOs) using an oil-wick flame pyrolysis approach, employing biowaste (chicken fat) oil as a cost-effective precursor. The prepared CNOs can provide enhanced ion movement and less resistance for electron transport by interconnecting CNO particles with one another. Furthermore, heteroatom (S,N)-doped CNOs (h-CNOs) were synthesized to optimize the hydrophilic and conductive properties of carbon materials, which eventually exalted the capacitive charge transfer kinetics. The h-CNOs demonstrated superior, highest specific capacitance of 261 F/g, while the undoped CNOs showed a capacitance of 180.6 F/g at a current density of 1 A/g. In addition to capacitance, the h-CNOs also demonstrated a rate capability of 69% and a good cycling stability of 97.5% under high current densities. An asymmetric supercapacitor was fabricated using the h-CNOs as the negative and MnCo2S4 (MCS) as the positive electrode. The device showed high energy and power performance of 32.8 Wh/kg and 7350 W/kg, respectively, with a capacitance retention of 97% over 5000 cycles. Considering the facile strategic way to produce novel carbonaceous materials derived from biowaste oil (chicken fat oil), this could be considered a potential advantage for commercial energy storage devices and may open the door to producing inexpensive, industrially revolutionizing energy storage devices.

Preparation and Properties of Indium Ion Modified Graphite Felt Composite Electrode

Iron-chromium redox flow batteries (ICRFBs) have the advantages of high safety, long cycle life, flexible design, and low maintenance costs. Polyacrylonitrile-based graphite felt composite material has good temperature resistance, corrosion resistance, large surface area and excellent electrical conductivity, and is often used as the electrode material of ICRFB, but its chemical activity is poor. In order to improve the activity of the graphite felt electrode, In3+ was used for modification in this paper, and the modified graphite felt was used as the electrode material for iron-chromium batteries. The structure and surface morphology of the modified graphite felt were analyzed by the specific surface area analyzer and scanning electron microscope; the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and cyclic voltammetry experiments were carried out on the electrochemical workstation to study the electro catalytic activity of In3+ modified graphite felt and its performance in ICRFBS. The results show that the graphite felt electrode modified with a concentration of 0.2 M In3+ was activated at 400°C for 2 h, and its surface showed a lot of grooves, and the specific surface area reached 3.889 m2/g, while the specific surface area of the untreated graphite felt was only 0.995 m2/g significantly improved. Electrochemical tests show that the electrochemical properties of graphite felt electrodes are improved after In3+ modification. Therefore, the In3+ modified graphite felt electrode can improve the performance of ICRFB battery, and also make it possible to realize the engineering application of ICRFB battery.