Characterization of Sulfonated Diels-Alder Poly(phenylene) Membranes for Electrolyte Separators in Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries

Journal Article · Wed Sep 03 04:00:00 EDT 2014 · Journal of the Electrochemical Society

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1149/2.0631412jes· OSTI ID:1265394

Tang, Zhijiang ^[1]; Lawton, Jamie S. ^[1]; Sun, Che-Nan ^[2]; Chen, Jihua ^[3]; Bright, Michael I. ^[1]; Jones, Amanda M. ^[1]; Papandrew, Alex B. ^[1]; Fujimoto, Cy H. ^[4]; Zawodzinski, Thomas A. ^[1]

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1. Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States)
2. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
3. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Center for Nanophase Materials Science (CNMS)
4. Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

Here, sulfonated Diels-Alder poly(phenylene) (SDAPP) membranes were synthesized and characterized as potential electrolyte separators for vanadium redox flow batteries. The SDAPP membranes studied had ion exchange capacities of 1.4, 1.8 and 2.3 meq/g. Transmission electron microscopy imaging shows that the ionic domains in SDAPP are roughly 0.5 nm in dimension, while Nafion has a hydrophilic phase width of around 5 nm. The sulfuric acid uptake by SDAPP was higher than that for Nafion, but the materials had similar water uptake from solutions of various sulfuric acid concentrations. In equilibration with sulfuric acid concentrations ranging from 0–17.4 mol·kg^-1, SDAPP with a IEC of 2.3 meq/g had the highest conductivity, ranging from 0.21 to 0.05 S·cm^-1, while SDAPP with a IEC of 1.8 had conductivity close to Nafion 117, ranging from 0.11 to 0.02 S·cm^-1. With varying sulfuric acid concentration and temperature, vanadium permeability in SDAPP is positively correlated to the membrane's IEC. The vanadium permeability of SDAPP 2.3 is similar to that of Nafion, but permeability values for SDAPP 1.8 and SDAPP 1.4 are substantially lower. The vanadium permeation decreases with increasing electrolyte sulfuric acid concentration. Lastly, vanadium diffusion activation energy is about 20 kJ·mol^-1 in both SDAPP and Nafion.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences (CNMS)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science (SC)
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-00OR22725
• OSTI ID: 1265394
• Journal Information: Journal of the Electrochemical Society, Journal Name: Journal of the Electrochemical Society Journal Issue: 12 Vol. 161; ISSN 0013-4651
• Publisher: The Electrochemical Society
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

25 ENERGY STORAGE
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE