Cycling performance and efficiency of sulfonated poly(sulfone) membranes in vanadium redox flow batteries
As an alternative to the expensive Nafion® ion exchange membrane, an inexpensive commercially-available Radel® polymer was sulfonated, fabricated into a thin membrane, and evaluated for its performance in a vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB). The sulfonated Radel (S-Radel) membrane showed almost an order of magnitude lower permeability of V (IV) ions (2.07×10-7 cm2/min), compared to Nafion 117 (1.29×10-6 cm2/min), resulting in better coulombic efficiency (~98% vs. 95% at 50 mA/cm2) and lower capacity loss per cycle. Even though the S-Radel membrane had slightly higher membrane resistance, the energy efficiency of the VRFB with the S-Radel membrane was comparable to that of Nafion due to its better coulombic efficiency. The S-Radel membrane exhibited good performance up to 40 cycles, but a decay in performance at later cycles was observed.
- Research Organization:
- Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC05-76RL01830
- OSTI ID:
- 1001106
- Report Number(s):
- PNNL-SA-74853; TD5018010
- Journal Information:
- Electrochemistry Communications, 12(11):1650-1653, Journal Name: Electrochemistry Communications, 12(11):1650-1653
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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