The edge plane in carbon structure has good electrocatalytic activity toward vanadium redox reaction. To apply it in vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB) practically, the graphite nanopowders (GNPs) containing amounts of edge planes are used as electrocatalyst and embedded in the electrospun carbon nanofibers (ECNFs) by different mass ratios to make composite electrodes. The morphology and electrochemical activity of the GNPs and the composite electrodes containing them are characterized. Compared with the pristine ECNFs, the composite electrodes show much higher electrochemical activity. With the increase of GNPs content in composite electrodes, the electrochemical reversibility of the vanadium redox couples also increases. It proves the addition of GNPs can surely improve the electrochemical activity of ECNFs. Among the composite electrodes, the ECNFs containing 30 nm GNP by mass ratio of 1:50 show the best electrochemical activity, largest active surface area and excellent stability. Due to the high performance of GNP/ECNFs composite electrode and its relatively low cost preparation process, the GNPs are expected to be used as electrocatalyst in VRFB on a large scale to improve the cell performance. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.