Stability and performance evaluation of ion-exchange membranes for vanadium redox flow battery

Abstract

The performance of vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB) is highly dependent on the efficiency of the membrane. Generally, anion exchange membranes and cation exchange membranes can be applied in the VRFB. In this paperwork, AMI-7001S anion exchange membrane and CMI-7000S cation exchange membranes were tested for their suitability in the VRFB application. Both of the membranes were originally used for electrocoat and water treatment system. In order to study the behavior of the membranes in the VRFB, several tests were performed. This includes VO2+ ion permeability, ionic conductivity, ion selectivity, chemical stability and single cell performance. The results obtained were compared to Nafion 117 which is a proton exchange membrane. This membrane is one of the most established membranes for VRFB. From the experiment, it can be summarized that the membranes are unsuitable to be used in VRFB. This is due to the low ion selectivity, poor chemical stability and high resistance.