Understanding the role of the porous electrode microstructure in redox flow battery performance using an experimentally validated 3D pore-scale lattice Boltzmann model
Name
1-s2.0-S037877531931242X-main.pdf
Description
Published version
Size
2.48 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
d149fa7a9fa6117608233dab01898b73
Author(s)
Zhang, Duo
Forner-Cuenca, Antoni
Taiwo, Oluwadamilola O
Yufit, Vladimir
Brushett, Fikile R
Brandon, Nigel P
Gu, Sai
Cai, Qiong
Date Issued
2020
Journal
Journal of Power Sources
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Version
Final published version
Abstract
© 2019 The Authors The porous structure of the electrodes in redox flow batteries (RFBs) plays a critical role in their performance. We develop a framework for understanding the coupled transport and reaction processes in electrodes by combining lattice Boltzmann modelling (LBM) with experimental measurement of electrochemical performance and X-ray computed tomography (CT). 3D pore-scale LBM simulations of a non-aqueous RFB are conducted on the detailed 3D microstructure of three different electrodes (Freudenberg paper, SGL paper and carbon cloth) obtained using X-ray CT. The flow of electrolyte and species within the porous structure as well as electrochemical reactions at the interface between the carbon fibers of the electrode and the liquid electrolyte are solved by a lattice Boltzmann approach. The simulated electrochemical performances are compared against the experimental measurements with excellent agreement, indicating the validity of the LBM simulations for predicting the RFB performance. Electrodes featuring one single dominant peak (i.e., Freudenberg paper and carbon cloth) show better electrochemical performance than the electrode with multiple dominant peaks over a wide pore size distribution (i.e., SGL paper), whilst the presence of a small fraction of large pores is beneficial for pressure drop. This framework is useful to design electrodes with optimal microstructures for RFB applications.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Chemical Engineering
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1016/J.JPOWSOUR.2019.227249
