Effects of flow cell design on charge percolation and storage in the carbon slurry electrodes of electrochemical flow capacitors

C. R. Dennison, M. Beidaghi, K. B. Hatzell, J. W. Campos, Y. Gogotsi, E. C. Kumbur

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

101 Scopus citations

Abstract

The electrochemical flow capacitor (EFC) is an electrical energy storage concept recently introduced for grid-scale energy storage applications. The EFC utilizes flowable carbon-based electrodes as the active material in a flow battery type architecture for capacitive storage and recovery of energy. Charged slurry can be stored in external reservoirs until it is needed, enabling scalable energy storage to satisfy a variety of large-scale applications. Here, the capacitance and conductivity of EFC slurry electrodes were measured as a function of flow rate (from 0 to 10 ml min-1) and flow cell channel depth (electrode 'thickness', ranging from 0.5 to 3 mm). The effect of salt concentration in the electrolyte was also explored. The interfacial resistance associated with the current collector|slurry interface was found to constitute a large portion of the total cell resistance. Bulk slurry conductivity was found to vary significantly with changes in electrolyte concentration, flow rate and channel depth. Very respectable capacitance values of up to ∼30 F ml -1 (150 F g-1) were obtained during intermittent flow operation. However, significant underutilization of the slurry due to increased ohmic losses at larger channel depths was observed, as evidenced by a rapid decay in capacitance with increasing channel depth.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)489-496
Number of pages8
JournalJournal of Power Sources
Volume247
DOIs
StatePublished - 2014
Externally publishedYes

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment
  • Energy Engineering and Power Technology
  • Physical and Theoretical Chemistry
  • Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Keywords

  • Carbon slurry
  • Electrochemical flow capacitor
  • Energy storage
  • Flow battery
  • Flowable electrode
  • Supercapacitor

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