Development of Electrospun PAN Fibers Used as Electrodes for Flow Cell Applications

Abstract

The increase in energy consumption coupled with global climate change have generated a keen interest in renewable energy resources in the scientific world. Grid scale energy storage solutions are required in order to bridge the mismatch between power generation and power consumption due to the intermittent nature of renewable energy resources. Redox flow batteries have shown great potential as grid scale energy storage solution due to their advantages over other technologies. However, redox flow battery technology still requires development such as the need to increase their power density and efficiency. Previously, Liu, Kok, Kim, Barton, Brushett and Gostick (2017) fabricated porous electrode layers to increase the specific surface area as they noticed poor kinetic performance of the commercial electrodes. These electrodes had better overall performance but low electrical conductivity. The objective of this thesis was achieved by improving the electrical conductivity 2.5 times of the porous electrode layer to that of Liu, Kok, Kim, Barton, Brushett and Gostick (2017), while maintaining other performance related properties such as porosity, permeability and surface area. Increasing the electrical conductivity of the porous electrode layer decreases internal resistances within the cell, which results in decreased ohmic losses in the performance curves of the flow battery and consequently higher voltage efficiency. A brief study on the mechanical properties of the porous electrode layer was also conducted to gain an insight into the integrity of the porous electrode layer.