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Language: English

Conflict of Interest: In relation to this article, we declare that there is no conflict of interest.

Publication history: Received January 22, 2026
Revised March 30, 2026
Accepted April 1, 2026
Available online July 25, 2026

This is an Open-Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/bync/3.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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Regulating Zinc Nucleation via KOH-Etched and Cu-Coated Carbon Felt for Stable Zinc–Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries

Seongbin Kang^{1 2} Jueun Kim^{1 2} Eunjeong Song⁵ Hyeyoung Shin^{5 6†} Mihee Park^{3 4†} Minjoon Park^{1 2†}

Department of Nanoenergy Engineering, Pusan National University ¹Research Center of Energy Convergence Technology, Pusan National University ²Department of Nano Fusion Technology, Pusan National University ³Department of Cogno-Mechatronics Engineering, College of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, Pusan National University ⁴Department of Optics and Mechatronics Engineering, College of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, Pusan National University ⁵Graduate School of Energy Science and Technology (GEST), Chungnam National University ⁶Department of Chemistry, College of Sciences, Kyung Hee University

shinhy@khu.ac.kr, mhpark@pusan.ac.kr, mjpark@pusan.ac.kr

Korean Journal of Chemical Engineering, July 2026, 43(9), 2557-2563(7)
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11814-026-00722-2

Abstract

To mitigate zinc dendrite growth at the negative electrode of zinc–vanadium redox flow batteries, a KOH-etched and Cucoated

carbon felt was employed and systematically compared with pristine carbon felt. The electrochemical properties of

the modified electrode were evaluated using cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, revealing

a reduced zinc nucleation overpotential, enhanced peak current, and decreased interfacial resistance. Furthermore, zinc

symmetric cell and full-cell charge–discharge tests demonstrated significantly improved cycling stability and reduced

overpotential. The full cell employing the modified electrode delivered an average Coulombic efficiency (CE) of 100%

and an average energy efficiency (EE) of 87.292% over 100 cycles, confirming the effectiveness of the surface modification

in suppressing zinc dendrite growth and enhancing overall battery performance.

Keywords

Redox flow battery · Zn dendrite · Carbon felt · KOH etching · Cu coating