Commercial preparation of hybrid carbon filler/HDPE composite electrodes for lead methanesulfonate flow batteries

ABSTRACT

High-density polyethylene (HDPE) conductive polymer composites are prepared using carbon fillers, such as natural flake graphite (FG), carbon black (CB), and carbon fibre (CF). Here, micro-sized FG as the main conductive filler, nano-sized CB as assistant conductive filler, and short CF as flexibility-enhanced materials are internally mixed with HDPE in a certain weight ratio. Commercial conductive polymer composite is prepared by hot pressing technology. Two kinds of conductive composites are selected by optimising the ratio of carbon fillers and HDPE. CF_4%(CB + FG)_1:5HDPE_27% composite has the higher volume conductivity of 20.76 S cm⁻¹ with a bending strength of 39.5 MPa. CF_4%(CB + FG)_1:4HDPE_30% composite has the larger bending strength of 53.6 MPa with a volume conductivity of 18.82 S cm⁻¹. The electrochemical corrosion resistances of those two composite electrodes are investigated over 900 charging/discharging cycles in the lead methanesulfonate flow cell. CF_4%(CB + FG)_1:4HDPE_30% composite exhibits better durability than CF_4%(CB + FG)_1:5HDPE_27% composite.

KEYWORDS:

• Carbon filler/HDPE composites
• conductivity
• flexural strength
• corrosion
• lead methanesulfonate flow batteries

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The authors would like to thank Youth Program of National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant number 51701153], The key Science and Technology Program of Shaanxi Province [grant number 17JS084] for the financial surpport, and Haofa Environmental Protection Technology (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd. for the technical support of the work.