Sulfonated poly(ether ether ketone)/polyimide acid-base hybrid membranes for vanadium redox flow battery applications

• Published in: Ionics Vol. 26; no. 5; pp. 2467 - 2475
• Main Authors: Li, Anfeng, Wang, Gang, Quan, Yizhou, Wei, Xiaoyan, Li, Feng, Zhang, Miaomiao, Ur, Rehman Ijaz, Zhang, Jie, Chen, Jinwei, Wang, Ruilin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.05.2020; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Chemistry; Chemistry and Materials Science; Condensed Matter Physics; Electrochemistry; Energy Storage; Ion exchange; Membranes; Optical and Electronic Materials; Original Paper; Permeability; Rechargeable batteries; Renewable and Green Energy; Selectivity; Vanadium; Acid-base hybrid membrane; Polyimide; Vanadium redox flow battery; Sulfonated poly(ether ether ketone)
• ISSN: 0947-7047; 1862-0760
• DOI: 10.1007/s11581-019-03335-4

A series of acid-base hybrid membranes based on sulfonated poly(ether ether ketone) (SPEEK) and polyimide (PI) were prepared and used for vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB). The proton conductivity, vanadium ion permeability, ion-exchange capacity (IEC), and water uptake of the SPEEK/PI (S/PI) hybrid membranes were tested. It was observed that the S/PI hybrid membrane exhibited lower vanadium ion permeability and higher selectivity than SPEEK and Nafion115 membranes. The VRFB single cell with S/PI hybrid membranes exhibited a better overall performance, such as higher coulombic efficiency (CE) of 96%, higher energy efficiency (EE) of 84%, and longer discharge time (DT) of 41 h, than that with the Nafion115 membrane (CE 92%, EE 82%, and DT 27 h) at 60 mA cm −2 . The results showed that the S/PI acid-base hybrid membrane is a potential candidate for VRFB. Graphical Abstract