Optimization of Anion Exchange Membranes Derived from Bacterial Cellulose for Solid-State Supercapacitors

Abstract

At present, supercapacitors have received increasing attention, due to its low cost, light-weight, high-performance environmentally-friendly and flexible. Electrolyte has been identified as one of the most influential components in the performance of electrochemical supercapacitors. However, mostly conventional supercapacitors used liquid electrolyte, such as (KOH solution). These liquid electrolytes limit the development of supercapacitors owing to their corrosivity and easy leak. Solid electrolytes not only eliminate leakage problems, but also act as membranes to prevent internal short circuits. Bacterial cellulose (BC) membrane attracted extensive attention, due to the high crystallinity, ultra-fine network structure, high mechanical strength, low cost and good degradability. In this work, Alkaline anion exchange membrane (AAEM) have been developed by using modified BC membrane. The membranes are characterized and tested in detail by fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermal gravity analysis (TG), mechanical property, ion transport number, AC impedance technique, water uptake, ion exchange capacity (IEC) and swelling ratio to evaluate their applicability in solid-state supercapacitors. The membrane shows a high OH- conductivity of 0.031 S cm-1, excellent stability, and has potential in the application of supercapacitors.