Our work aims to make advances toward developing electrocatalysts that will improve the performance of grid-scale batteries and thus increase the sustainability of our electric power grid. Proposed pathways to deep cuts in CO2 emissions rely on tremendous amounts of new energy storage. In California alone, it is estimated that a staggering 12 GW of additional energy storage capacity will be needed to support a grid powered by 74% renewable energy. We aim to reduce the number of batteries to achieve this goal by improving current electrodes using nanoscale tailoring of graphene-based carbon materials. Redox flow batteries, such as those based on vanadium, are considered to be the most promising candidates for safe and sustainable storage of renewable energy. They utilize carbon felts as the basic electrode materials which govern the power capacity of these devices.
For more information
- D. M. Hall, J. Grenier, T. S. Duffy, and S. N. Lvov, "The Energy Storage Density of Redox Flow Battery Chemistries: A Thermodynamic Analysis," J. Electrochem. Soc., vol. 167, no. 11, p. 110536, 2020, doi: 10.1149/1945-7111/aba4e2.