Chapter 5 - Recent advances in high-performance membranes for vanadium redox flow battery

Abstract

The vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB) is regarded as one of the most promising techniques for large-scale energy storage in the utilization of intermittent wind and solar energy. The VRFB has a number of intriguing benefits, such as high security, long lifetime, low cost, and decoupling of capacity and power. The ion exchange membrane is a core component of the VRFB, separating the electrodes and electrolytes in two compartments while conducts the charge carrier ions. An ideal membrane is expected to possess high ion conductivity, low vanadium ion permeation, and low cost to enhance the energy storage efficiency, reduce the capacity and energy loss, and promote the commercialization. This chapter introduces the development of VRFBs and the essential role of ion exchange membranes and discusses typical modification methods for high-performance membranes. The modified approaches are classified as inorganic (including zero-, one-, and two-dimensional additives) and organic (including covalent and noncovalent interactions) materials. This chapter focuses on the advanced membrane structure for the future development of high-performance VRFBs.