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Comparative analysis of single-acid and mixed-acid systems as supporting electrolyte for vanadium redox flow battery

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Abstract

A comparison study was conducted for various supporting electrolytes of sulfuric acid (H2SO4), hydrochloric acid (HCl), and mixed acids (H2SO4 + HCl) in a vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB). The cyclic voltammetry (CV) results show that the highest value of − Ipc/Ipa (cathodic to anodic peak current ratio) and the lowest value of ΔEp (difference between oxidation and reduction peaks potential) are for the H2SO4 + HCl sample. Therefore, the V(IV)/V(V) redox reaction in the mixed system is more electrochemically reversible. According to the results of electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), the H2SO4 + HCl electrolyte also exhibits the lowest charge-transfer resistance, indicating more practicability in the transfer of vanadium ions and electrons for the mixed electrolyte. The electrolyte absorption measurements represent that the mixed-acid sample further penetrates the electrode porosity and increases the reaction rate of vanadium species. According to the rate capability test of VRFB, at various current densities of 60, 80, and 100 mA cm−2, the capacity has improved by approximately 10% because of the addition of HCl to the H2SO4 supporting electrolyte. The discharge polarization curves of VRFBs depict that adding HCl to the supporting electrolyte lowered the internal resistance of VRFB from 10 to 9.5 Ω cm2. The peak power density for H2SO4 supporting electrolyte is 496.4 mW cm−2, whereas this value is 530.1 mW cm−2 for mixed-acid supporting electrolyte.

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Data availability

The supporting data regarding the findings of this study are accessible from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Funding

This work received financial support from Institute of Mechanics.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Energy Storage, Institute of Mechanics, Shiraz, 71555-414, Iran

    Mohammad Zarei-Jelyani, Mohammad Mohsen Loghavi, Mohsen Babaiee & Rahim Eqra

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  1. Mohammad Zarei-Jelyani
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  2. Mohammad Mohsen Loghavi
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  3. Mohsen Babaiee
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  4. Rahim Eqra
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Contributions

MZ-J: Conceptualization, Methodology, Software, Validation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Resources, Data curation, Writing—original draft, Writing—review and editing, Visualization, Supervision. MML: Formal analysis, Investigation, Software, Writing—review and editing, Visualization, Supervision. MB: Formal analysis, Investigation. RE: Writing—review and editing.

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Correspondence to Mohammad Zarei-Jelyani or Mohammad Mohsen Loghavi.

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Zarei-Jelyani, M., Loghavi, M.M., Babaiee, M. et al. Comparative analysis of single-acid and mixed-acid systems as supporting electrolyte for vanadium redox flow battery. J Appl Electrochem 54, 719–730 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10800-023-01997-7

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