TY - JOUR
T1 - Factors affecting the performance of the Zn-Ce redox flow battery
AU - Nikiforidis, Georgios
AU - Cartwright, Rory
AU - Hodgson, David
AU - Hall, David
AU - Berlouis, Leonard
PY - 2014/9/10
Y1 - 2014/9/10
N2 - The Hull Cell was used to investigate the impact of current density j on the morphology and uniformity of zinc electrodeposited from a 2.5 mol dm−3 Zn2+ solution in 1.5 mol dm−3 methanesulfonic acid at 40◦C onto carbon-composite surfaces. The range of the applied deposition current density used was between1 mA cm−2 and 100 mA cm−2. Good, robust deposits were obtained when j ≥ 10 mA cm2 whereas at j’s lower than this, patchy films formed due to the competing hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) on the bare carbon-composite surface. An understanding of these effects and its application in the redox flow battery enabled both the coulombic and cell potential efficiencies to be maintained at relatively high values, 90% and 69% respectively, indicating a successful inhibition of the HER on the fully formed Zn layer. Flow velocity at the low Reynolds number in the cell (Re <200) had little impact on the electrochemical cell performance. Depletion of the cerium species became an issue for long charge times.
AB - The Hull Cell was used to investigate the impact of current density j on the morphology and uniformity of zinc electrodeposited from a 2.5 mol dm−3 Zn2+ solution in 1.5 mol dm−3 methanesulfonic acid at 40◦C onto carbon-composite surfaces. The range of the applied deposition current density used was between1 mA cm−2 and 100 mA cm−2. Good, robust deposits were obtained when j ≥ 10 mA cm2 whereas at j’s lower than this, patchy films formed due to the competing hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) on the bare carbon-composite surface. An understanding of these effects and its application in the redox flow battery enabled both the coulombic and cell potential efficiencies to be maintained at relatively high values, 90% and 69% respectively, indicating a successful inhibition of the HER on the fully formed Zn layer. Flow velocity at the low Reynolds number in the cell (Re <200) had little impact on the electrochemical cell performance. Depletion of the cerium species became an issue for long charge times.
KW - Zn-Ce redox flow battery
KW - Zn electrodeposition
KW - Hull cell
UR - http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00134686
U2 - 10.1016/j.electacta.2014.04.150
DO - 10.1016/j.electacta.2014.04.150
M3 - Article
VL - 140
SP - 139
EP - 144
JO - Electrochimica Acta
JF - Electrochimica Acta
SN - 0013-4686
ER -