Branched Sulfonated Polyimide/Sulfonated Methylcellulose Composite Membranes with Remarkable Proton Conductivity and Selectivity for Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries

A series of branched sulfonated polyimide (bSPI)/sulfonated methylcellulose (s-MC) composite membranes composed of a designed and synthesized bSPI polymer and functionalized s-MC are prepared by using a facile solution casting method for vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFBs). Among all bSPI/s-MC composite membranes, the optimized bSPI/s-MC-20 % composite membrane has the best proton selectivity of 2.45x10(5) S min cm(-3), which is 14.4 times as high as the Nafion 115 membrane. The bSPI/s-MC-20 % composite membrane possesses superior proton conductivity compared to most reported SPI-based composite membranes for VRFBs. The VRFB with a bSPI/s-MC-20 % composite membrane shows excellent battery efficiencies (CE=99.2-98.0 %, EE=66.3-77.6 %) and capacity retention (73.3-47.2 %). Moreover, the cost of the bSPI/s-MC-20 % composite membrane is only a quarter of that of a commercial Nafion 115 membrane. This work develops a new strategy to fabricate cheap bSPI-based composite membranes by introducing a suitable functionalized biomass material.