Nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur co-doped carbon nanotubes/melamine foam composite electrode for high-performance vanadium redox flow battery.

• Melamine foam is introduced due to low cost and simple of modification. • N, P, S co-doped CNTs are introduced on the melamine foam surface. • The electrode possesses high conductivity and optimal redox kinetics. • DFT reveals the promotion effect of N, P, S co-doped CNTs for vanadium reactions. • The novel electrode exhibits higher energy efficiency compared to carbon felt. The high cost and complex modification process of carbon felt electrodes limits its further popularization in vanadium redox flow batteries (VFBs). By introducing low-cost melamine foam, nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur co-doped carbon nanotubes/ melamine foam composite electrode (NPS-CNTs-CMF) is designed and fabricated via immersing melamine foam in a solution containing N, P, and S co-doped CNTs. The integration of modified CNTs significantly enhances the conductivity and hydrophilicity of the electrode. Moreover, the composite electrode also demonstrates outstanding electrocatalytic activity owing to the heteroatom doping that further inspired the electrocatalytic activity of CNTs. Density function theory calculations further uncover that introducing heteroatoms on CNTs not only promotes the adsorption of vanadium ions but also facilitates the electron transfer between vanadium ions and MF substrate. As a result, the battery loading with NPS-CNTs-CMF exhibits excellent battery performance, achieving energy efficiency of 80.12 % at 300 mA cm^–2. Additionally, the long-term cycling stability is attained over 200 consecutive charge-discharge cycles at 300 mA cm⁻². This study provides a novel melamine foam material with low cost and simple modification, and this new composite structure stimulates the development of high-performance electrodes in VFBs. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]