Nitrogen-doped mesoporous carbon for energy storage in vanadium redox flow batteries

We demonstrate an excellent performance of nitrogen-doped mesoporous carbon (N-MPC) for energy storage in vanadium redox flow batteries. Mesoporous carbon (MPC) is prepared using a soft-template method and doped with nitrogen by heat-treating MPC in NH3. N-MPC is characterized with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy. The redox reaction of [VO]2+/[VO2]+ is characterized with cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The electrocatalytic kinetics of the redox couple [VO]2+/[VO2]+ is significantly enhanced on N-MPC electrode compared with MPC and graphite electrodes. The reversibility of the redox couple [VO]2+/[VO2]+ is greatly improved on N-MPC (0.61 for N-MPC vs. 0.34 for graphite), which is expected to increase the energy storage efficiency of redox flow batteries. Nitrogen doping facilitates the electron transfer on electrode/electrolyte interface for both oxidation and reduction processes. N-MPC is a promising material for redox flow batteries. This also opens up new and wider applications of nitrogen-doped carbon.