Electronical Conductivity Improvement of Carbon-Based Slurry Electrodes Using Carbon Foams for Enhanced Performance in Advanced Electrochemical Energy Storage Systems

In this work, the novel idea of using a carbon foam to improve slurry electrode systems’ electronic and ionic conductivities is introduced and experimentally investigated. Slurries with different mass loadings of 5, 10, and 15 wt % are prepared using steam-activated Norit (from peat) as an active charge carrier with 1 M H2SO4 and distilled water for specifically analyzing the electronic conductivity. A single-pass rectangular flow channel is used in this slurry system, where the channel width is varied from 4.1 to 2.6 cm by changing the current collectors’ position and slurry flowing from zero (static) to a maximum of 240 mL·min–1. Carbon foams with two different thicknesses of 10 and 6.5 mm and two different pore sizes of 10 pores per inch (PPI) and 5 PPI are used for this investigation. It is observed that application of the carbon foam improves slurry conductivity; with a 10 mm thick, 10 PPI carbon foam, maximum increases of 204% in electronic conductivity and 23% in ionic conductivity are observed for water-based and acid-based slurries, respectively.