Pore-filled Anion-exchange Membranes with High Fixed Ion Concentration for All-vanadium Redox Flow Battery Applications

In this work, new pore-filled anion-exchange membranes (PFAEMs) are prepared and characterized for the successful application to all-vanadium redox flow batteries (VRBs). Particularly, filling ionomer is designed to have high cross-linking degree and ion-exchange capacity (IEC), simultaneously. As a result, the PFAEMs are shown to possess very low electrical resistance due to the thin film thickness and high IEC values. Furthermore, the VRBs utilizing the PFAEMs exhibit excellent energy efficiencies which are superior to those of the commercially available membranes (i.e. Nafion 117 and AMX) due to the low electrical resistance and reduced crossover rate of vanadium cations.