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High Surface Area Carbon Electrodes for Bromine Reactions in H2-Br2 Fuel Cells

Yarlagadda, Venkata
; 
Lin, Guangyu
; 
Chong, Pau Ying
; 
Van Nguyen, Trung
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Abstract
In a hydrogen-bromine (H2-Br2) fuel cell, the Br2 reactions don't require precious metal catalysts, hence porous carbon gas diffusion media (GDM) are widely used as electrodes. However, the specific surface areas of the commercial carbon gas diffusion electrodes (GDEs) are quite low and need to be enhanced. In order to improve the active surface area of carbon GDEs, a study was conducted to grow multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) directly on the carbon electrode fiber surface. Both constant and pulse current electrodeposition techniques were used to deposit Co nanoparticles to catalyze the MWCNT growth. The MWCNTs were grown in the presence of a mixture of acetylene, argon, and hydrogen gases using the chemical vapor deposition process. Based on the results obtained from SEM, TEM, and EDX analysis, MWCNT growth following the tip model was confirmed. The results from the multi-step chronoamperometry study have shown that the synthesized carbon GDEs with MWCNTs have 7 to 50 times higher active surface area than that of a plain GDE. The performance of a single layer of the best MWCNT GDE measured in a H2-Br2 fuel cell was found to be equal or slightly higher compared to that obtained using a three-layer plain carbon electrode.
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Date
2015-10-30
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Publisher
Electrochemical Society
Collections
Chemical & Petroleum Engineering Scholarly Works
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Keywords
Carbon nanotubes, Flow batteries, Fuel cells, Hydrogen-bromine, Kinetic and transport effect
Citation
Yarlagadda, V., R. P. Dowd, J. W. Park, P. N. Pintauro, and T. Van Nguyen. "A Comprehensive Study of an Acid-Based Reversible H2-Br2 Fuel Cell System." Journal of the Electrochemical Society 162.8 (2015): n. pag. doi: 10.1149/2.0171601jes
URI
https://hdl.handle.net/1808/20619
DOI
10.1149/2.0171601jes
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