Boron-doped carbon felt electrode on stabilizing cycle life of soluble lead redox flow battery

The commercialization of soluble lead redox flow battery (SLRFB) is obstructed due to its limited lifespan and sluggish kinetics. Enormous efforts have been made in electrolyte modification and cell engineering to improve performance; however, limited reports are available on electrode modification. In the present work, performance deterioration of SLRFB at higher current density has been improved by using a boron-doped carbon felt (B-CF) electrode at the positive side of the battery. This investigation is focused on exploring the physicochemical properties of the electrodes and the cycling performances of SLRFBs. While using a B-CF electrode instead of bare carbon felt, the SLRFB’s life span is increased from 130 to 480 @ 40 mA cm⁻². Even after 480 cycles of charging and discharging, the cell maintained its 956 mAh discharge capacity (or 40 mAh cm⁻²). The cell could operate up to an average capacity of 120 mAh cm⁻² while charging at 60 mA cm⁻² for 2 h.