Evaluation of counter and reference electrodes for the investigation of Ca battery materials

The growing needs for electrochemical storage systems are pushing the research community to explore alternatives to Li-ion technology. Ca-based chemistry is attracting more and more attention and expectation. However, the unsuitability of Ca metal as counter and reference electrodes limits the research activity on the topic. Herein we propose a simple electrochemical cell configuration employing activated carbon as counter and reference electrodes, which is suitable for positive electrode screening. The feasibility of this cell configuration has been confirmed by evaluating the electrochemical activity of bilayered-V2O5 in the Ca-ion system.