Acetylacetonate-modified TiO nanoparticles coated on the carbon felt as the negative electrode of vanadium redox flow battery for reducing HER and enhancing V/V redox reactions.

The occurrence of the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) on the surface of the carbon-based negative electrode of the vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB) causes high charge transfer resistance (R) for the desired V/V redox reaction leading to irreversible capacity loss. To this effect, we have synthesized acetylacetonate-modified TiO (SGTA) and unmodified TiO (SGT) coating colloidal solutions as electrocatalysts for enhanced V/V redox reaction on the carbon-felt negative electrodes of VRFB. The SGTA particles exhibit significantly higher homogeneity with sizes of ≤15 nm, in comparison to the severely aggregated SGT particles with diameters of ∼23-75 nm in colloidal solution.