A highly proton-conductive and vanadium-rejected long-side-chain sulfonated polybenzimidazole membrane for redox flow battery

Yan, Xiaoming; Dong, Ziwei; Di, Mengting; Hu, Lei; Zhang, Caimian; Pan, Yu; Zhang, Ning; Jiang, Xiaobin; Wu, Xuemei; Wang, Jinyan; He, Gaohong

doi:10.1016/j.memsci.2019.117616

Cited by 89 publications

(37 citation statements)

References 61 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…In terms of materials, membranes prepared from a polybenzimidazole (PBI) type polymer are receiving attention in the scientific community for their diverse applicability in various fields and uses, such as high-temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cells, electrodialysis, and organic solvent nanofiltration [ 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 ], including RFBs and, in particular, vanadium RFBs (VRFBs) [ 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 ]. Whereas commercial Nafion ® is a cation exchange membrane (CEM), PBI in its pristine state is an insulator, but it develops the properties of an anion exchange membrane (AEM) in acidic conditions due to the uptake of electrolyte and the subsequent protonation of the nitrogen atoms in the imidazole group, thereby enhancing its barrier properties versus cations [ 22 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Composite Polybenzimidazole Membrane with High Capacity Retention for Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries

Duburg

Azizi²,

Primdahl³

et al. 2021

Molecules

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Currently, energy storage technologies are becoming essential in the transition of replacing fossil fuels with more renewable electricity production means. Among storage technologies, redox flow batteries (RFBs) can represent a valid option due to their unique characteristic of decoupling energy storage from power output. To push RFBs further into the market, it is essential to include low-cost materials such as new generation membranes with low ohmic resistance, high transport selectivity, and long durability. This work proposes a composite membrane for vanadium RFBs and a method of preparation. The membrane was prepared starting from two polymers, meta-polybenzimidazole (6 mm) and porous polypropylene (30 μm), through a gluing approach by hot-pressing. In a vanadium RFB, the composite membrane exhibited a high energy efficiency (~84%) and discharge capacity (~90%) with a 99% capacity retention over 90 cycles at 120 mA∙cm−2, exceeding commercial Nafion® NR212 (~82% efficiency, capacity drop from 90% to 40%) and Fumasep® FAP-450 (~76% efficiency, capacity drop from 80 to 65%).

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Composite Polybenzimidazole Membrane with High Capacity Retention for Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries

Duburg

Azizi²,

Primdahl³

et al. 2021

Molecules

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Even at a very high current density of 220 mA cm −2 , the EE can reach 80% which is the highest value ever reported for PBI membranes (Figure 6b,c). [16,[29][30][31][32][37][38][39][40][41][42][43] Benefiting from the very thin skin layer and highly porous support layer, all prepared membranes showed much better battery performance than that of a commercial Nafion115 (CE = 94.2% VE = 90.6% EE = 85.3%), confirming the very high ion conductivity and selectivity of prepared membrane.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 82%

“…It is indicative of the breakthrough of the trade-off between vanadium selectivity and proton conductivity, confirming the superiority of our membrane design. [16,[29][30][31][32][36][37][38][39][40][41][42] It is interesting to find that most of the dense PBI membranes possess low vanadium permeability but suffer from the high area resistance while most of the porous PBI membranes have low area resistance but is hard to have low vanadium permeability. Obviously, most other methods suffer from the trade-off issue.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Membranes with Well‐Defined Selective Layer Regulated by Controlled Solvent Diffusion for High Power Density Flow Battery

Shi

Dai

et al. 2020

Advanced Energy Materials

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Membranes with precise control of selective layer are designed and prepared by adjusting diffusion of solvents. Combining experiments and theoretical calculations, the formation mechanism of ion conductive membranes prepared by a non‐solvent induced phase separation (NIPS) method is found to be related to internal diffusion flux of solvent to the non‐solvent bath and external diffusion flux of non‐solvent to the casting solution. By regulating the internal and external diffusion rates via a two‐step NIPS method, a series of polybenzimidazole (PBI) porous membranes with independently controlled thin selective skin layers and highly porous support layers are fabricated, which achieve a simultaneous improvement in ion selectivity and proton conductivity. A vanadium flow battery assembled with a PBI membrane demonstrates an energy efficiency of 80% at a current density of 220 mA cm−2, which is the highest value among the reported PBI membranes. This provides a simple and effective way to fabricate membranes with well‐defined morphologies.

show abstract

“…Although a few previous studies have reported decomposition of the PBI membranes in VO 2 + solution, the mechanism of degradation is still unclear. 23,39 We speculate that highly oxidizing VO 2 + ions in the electrolyte deteriorate the alkyl grafted benzimidazole group in polymer chains, resulting in upfield-shift of some aromatic proton peaks after the ex situ testing. Meanwhile, no detectable difference was observed for the in situ tested sample, which suggests ABPBI-50 has a good chemical stability in practical VRFB operation conditions.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 95%

Alkyl Spacer Grafted ABPBI Membranes with Enhanced Acid-Absorption Capabilities for Use in Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries

Jang

Jeon

et al. 2021

ACS Appl. Energy Mater.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Achieving high proton conductivity, low vanadium ion permeability, and high chemical stability using a single material remains a key challenge for hydrocarbon-based membranes for use in vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFBs). Herein, we report amorphous poly(2,5benzimidazole) (ABPBI) membranes with alkyl spacers which can meet these requirements. Spacer-grafted poly(2,5-benzimidazole)s (ABPBIs) with different grafting ratios were synthesized via an N-substitution reaction and denoted as ABPBI-0, -10, -25, -40, and -50, respectively. The structure to battery performance relationship was investigated through spectroscopic and electrochemical analysis. As the grafting ratio increased, the microstructure of the ABPBI derivative membranes was transformed from a semicrystalline to an amorphous structure because of reduced chain packing, increasing H 2 SO 4 -absorption capability and consequently reducing area-specific resistances. Also, they exhibited lower vanadium permeabilities compared with Nafion 115 owing to Donnan exclusion effect. As a combined effect of these characteristics, the membranes outperformed Nafion 115 membrane with notably high coulomb efficiencies and energy efficiencies. Furthermore, a grafted ABPBI membrane showed stable battery cycling performance more than 500 cycles at 200 mAcm −2 , and 1000 h continuous operation at 1C-rate, demonstrating excellent chemical stability against highly oxidizing VO 2 + solution.

show abstract

A highly proton-conductive and vanadium-rejected long-side-chain sulfonated polybenzimidazole membrane for redox flow battery

Cited by 89 publications

References 61 publications

Composite Polybenzimidazole Membrane with High Capacity Retention for Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries

Composite Polybenzimidazole Membrane with High Capacity Retention for Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries

Membranes with Well‐Defined Selective Layer Regulated by Controlled Solvent Diffusion for High Power Density Flow Battery

Alkyl Spacer Grafted ABPBI Membranes with Enhanced Acid-Absorption Capabilities for Use in Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About