Celgard/PIM‐1 proton conducting composite membrane with reduced vanadium permeability

Abstract

Renewable energy systems need efficient and cheap storage devices and vanadium redox flow batteries (VRB) may become one of them. However, better performance of VRB membranes yet should be achieved. Novel composite Celgard‐based films coated with PIM‐1 for aqueous electrolyte VRB applications are presented. Two types of the composites with different PIM‐1 loadings are obtained. Their properties are studied and compared with the original Celgard films. The deposited PIM‐1 forms a smooth layer on the outer Celgard surface and penetrates inside the porous matrix, thus significantly reducing the pores diameter and affecting the transport properties of the composite film. The nanoporous structure of PIM‐1 permits size‐screening of H3O+/hydrated vanadium ions when used in aqueous vanadium redox flow batteries applications, which allows to tailor the membrane permeability for the two types of ions and, therefore, to increase its selectivity from 4.3 × 106 to 1.3 × 107 mS min cm−3, while maintaining high proton conductivity.

Proton-Conducting Polymer-Coated Carbon Nanofiber Mats for Pt-Anodes of High-Temperature Polymer-Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell

“…Three proton-conducting polymers, PIM-1, PBI-O-PhT-P and Nafion ® ( Figure 1 ), may provide additional proton conductivity when applied to the CNF. We expect this improvement because PIM-1 protonation ability is well-known [ 55 ]. Nafion ® [ 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 ] is another well-known proton-conducting polymer [ 2 ].…”

“…For instance, PIM-1 [ 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 ] is a microporous polymer with high hydrogen permeability. In addition, its protonation ability is well-known [ 55 ]. Similarly, Nafion ® [ 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 ] is a well-known proton-conducting polymer [ 2 ].…”