Advanced porous polyphenylsulfone membrane with ultrahigh chemical stability and selectivity for vanadium flow batteries

Shi, Manli; Liu, Lu; Tong, Yujia; Huang, Lukuan; Li, Weixing; Xing, Weihong

doi:10.1002/app.47752

Cited by 8 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…To better adjust pore structures of ICMs, the post-treatment steps were carried out to extend their pore structures to allow the free transport of charge-balanced ions or shrink the pore structures to prevent the transference of active species. ,,,− We commonly utilized a solvent treatment method, which included a solvent immersion step and a solvent evaporation step. The solvent treatment process could make the pores of ICMs first swell then shrink under the effects of swelling and cohesive forces (Figure a).…”

Section: Icms For Vfbsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Advanced Membranes Boost the Industrialization of Flow Battery

Lü

2023

Acc. Mater. Res.

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Metrics & MoreArticle Recommendations CONSPECTUS: Flow battery (FB) is nowadays one of the most suited energy storage technologies for large-scale stationary energy storage, which plays a vital role in accelerating the wide deployment of renewable energies. FBs achieve the energy conversion by reversible redox reactions of flowing active species at the positive and negative sides. An ion conducting membrane (ICM) is necessary to separate the anolyte and catholyte, while conducting chargebalanced ions to form a complete electric circuit simultaneously. However, the commonly used commercial perfluorinated sulfonated ion exchange membranes suffer from low selectivity and high cost. The widely studied nonfluorinated ion exchange membranes have poor chemical stability. Most importantly, these membranes are confronted with a trade-off between selectivity and conductivity. That has motivated researchers to explore novel membrane materials with innovative design. Among them, porous membranes based on the "ion sieving conducting" mechanism instead of the "ion exchange conducting" mechanism from traditional ion exchange membranes were put forward, upon which very impressive progress has been achieved in recent years. Different from ion exchange membranes, the porous ICMs can separate active species from charge-balanced ions by pore size exclusion. As a result, by controlling the pore structures, porous membranes can break up the selectivity and conductivity trade-off. However, the initial performance of the first reported porous ICM is not high enough to afford the industrialization of FBs. As a group striving for the integration of basic, applied and translational research, we have devoted substantial efforts to optimizing the current membrane fabrication methods, developing novel fabrication techniques, exploring novel membrane materials and increasing the membrane performance for over a decade. Based on these efforts, the preliminary industrial applications of ICMs in FBs have been realized. In this Account, we summarize and discuss the development process of ICMs in various FB systems, mainly including vanadium FBs and zinc-based FBs. We begin the discussion from the brief description of FBs and their ICMs. Then we will illustrate the "ion sieving conducting" mechanism of ICMs deeply and elaborately. This account will focus on our contributions to accelerating the industrial applications of ICMs in FB energy storage systems, upon which the modification strategies on ICMs will be illustrated thoroughly, including the regulation of formation parameters, the introduction of functional materials or functional separation layers and the implementation of post-treatment steps. We also discuss the current challenges of ICMs and propose prospects on their future development.

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Section: Icms For Vfbsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, this method is actually not well suited for industrial ICMs because of additional treatment steps. Nowadays, the solvent treatment method is inclined to be used to adjust the structures of porous substrates of thin-film composite ICMs and optimize the structures of mixed matrix ICMs. − …”

Section: Icms For Vfbsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Advanced Membranes Boost the Industrialization of Flow Battery

Lü

2023

Acc. Mater. Res.

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“…That research inspired investigation of nanoporous membranes in VRFBs instead of cation-exchange membranes. [128][129][130][131][132][133][134][135] Particularly, a number of studies examined poly(benzimidazole) (PBI) membranes [136][137][138][139][140] and even advocated the use of PBI membranes for all VRFBs. [141] Pristine PBI membranes are nonporous and have low ionic conductivities.…”

Section: Nf Membranes In Vrfbsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ion separations with membranes

Tang

Bruening

2020

Journal of Polymer Science

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Ion separations are important for resource recovery, water treatment, and energy production and storage. Techniques such as chemical precipitation, selective adsorption, and solvent extraction are effective, but membranes may separate ions continuously with less waste and lower energy costs. Separation of monovalent and multivalent ions with nanofiltration or electrodialysis membranes already enables water softening and edible salt purification. Similar membranes are attractive as separators in vanadium redox flow batteries. Selective partitioning of divalent counter-ions into ion-exchange membranes even allows transport of these ions against their concentration gradients in salt mixtures. However, separations of ions with the same charge is more challenging. Recent research demonstrated highly selective ion "sieving" at small scales. Separations using electrical potentials and differences in ion electrophoretic mobilities are promising, but relatively unexplored. Carrier-mediated transport affords high selectivity in liquid membranes, but these systems are not very stable, and selective transport via hopping between anchored carriers has proven elusive. Finally, this paper discusses how concentration polarization decreases selectivities in many membrane processes. Although development of selective, inexpensive ion-separation membranes is a work in progress, successes in water softening and edible salt purification suggests that future selective membranes will serve as complementary methods to traditional purification techniques.

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