On the Resistances of a Slurry Electrode Vanadium Redox Flow Battery

We studied the half-cell performance of a slurry-based vanadium redox flow battery via the polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy methods. First, the conductive static mixers are examined and lower ohmic and diffusion resistances are shown. Further analyses of the slurry electrodes for the catholyte (VO²⁺-VO₂ ⁺) and anolyte (V³⁺-V²⁺) are presented for the graphite powder slurry containing up to 15.0 wt.% particle content. Overall, the anolyte persists as the more resistive half-cell, while ohmic and diffusion-related limitations are the dominating resistances for both electrolytes. The battery is further improved by the addition of Ketjen black nanoparticles, which results in lower cell resistances. The best results are achieved when 0.5 wt.% Ketjen black nanoparticles are dispersed with graphite powder since the addition of nanoparticles reduces ohmic, charge transfer and mass diffusion resistances by improving particle-particle dynamics. The results prove the importance of understanding resistances in a slurry electrode system.