Development of a PP/carbon/CNT composite electrode for the zinc/bromine redox flow battery

Abstract

A polypropylene electrode filled with carbon black, graphite, and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) was successfully prepared by sheet extrusion to serve as the bipolar plate for a zinc/bromine redox flow battery. The electrical conductivity, mechanical properties and charge-discharge performance of the carbon plastic composite electrode with various added amounts of CNTs for the zinc/bromine redox flow battery were investigated. The volume resistivity of the carbon plastic composite electrode was 1.12 Ocm when the CNT content was 5 wt%. The voltage efficiency (VE) and the energy efficiency (EE) of the cell stack with 5 wt% CNT were measured to be 80.7% and 73.2%, respectively, during charge-discharge cycling. In addition, the zinc/bromine redox flow battery equipped with the carbon plastic composite electrode with added CNTs had good mechanical strength and chemical stability