Eur. Phys. J. E (2019) 42: 8
https://doi.org/10.1140/epje/i2019-11766-2

Regular Article

Low concentrated carbonaceous suspensions assisted with carboxymethyl cellulose as electrode for electrochemical flow capacitor

¹ University of Tartu, Institute of Technology, IMS Lab, Nooruse 1, 50411, Tartu, Estonia
² Lappeenranta University of Technology, LUT Chemtech, Skinnarillankatu 34, 53850, Lappeenranta, Finland
³ Institute of Chemistry, University of Tartu, Ravila 14A, 50411, Tartu, Estonia

^* e-mail: janno.torop@ut.ee

Received: 29 March 2018
Accepted: 21 December 2018
Published online: 21 January 2019

Abstract

The search for efficient energy storage devices has recently led to the introduction of a fluid electrode material employing electrochemical flow capacitors (EFC). Unlike the classical solid electrode film containing capacitors, where the electrode material is fixed to the current collectors and capacitance is therefore limited with an active surface area of porous electrode, the flow electrodes offer new design opportunities which enable fully continuous charging/discharging processes as well as easily scalable systems. Here we describe the successful incorporation of the carboxymethyl cellulose sodium salt (CMC-Na) assisted carbonaceous suspension electrode in aqueous media for the electrochemical flow capacitor concept and demonstrate the electrochemical charge storage in flowable electrodes using a cation conductive membrane as separator in a double-pipe flow-electrode module. Experimental results were combined with computer simulations (FEM) to specify limiting processes EFC charging. The flow-electrode slurry is based on 0.1 M Na₂SO₄, 3 wt% CMC-Na and activated carbon powder suspended in water. During continuous operation of the system, the capacitance of the flow electrode reached to 0.3 F/L providing the energy and current densities of 7 mWh/kg and 56 mW/L, respectively. Additionally, we report a 70% round trip efficiency calculated during charging and discharging of the cell between 0 V and +0.75 V, while applying the current density of 1.6 mA/kg. The double-pipe flow-electrode module is easily expandable for transportation of large volumes of electrode material.