Quaternized adamantane-containing poly(aryl ether ketone) anion exchange membranes for vanadium redox flow battery applications

Quaternized adamantane-containing poly(aryl ether ketone) anion exchange membranes (QADMPEK) are prepared and investigated for vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFB) application. The bulky, rigid and highly hydrophobic adamantane segment incorporated into the backbone of membrane material makes QADMPEK membranes have low water uptake and swelling ratio, and the as-prepared membranes display significantly lower permeability of vanadium ions than that of Nafion117 membrane. As a consequence, the VRFB cell with QADMPEK-3 membrane shows higher coulombic efficiency (99.4%) and energy efficiency (84.0%) than those for Nafion117 membrane (95.2% and 80.5%, respectively) at the current density of 80 mA cm−2. Furthermore, at a much higher current density of 140 mA cm−2, QADMPEK membrane still exhibits better coulombic efficiency and energy efficiency than Nafion117 membrane (coulombic efficiency 99.2% vs 96.5% and energy efficiency 76.0% vs 74.0%). Moreover, QADMPEK membranes show high stability in in-situ VRFB cycle test and ex-situ oxidation stability test. These results indicate that QADMPEK membranes are good candidates for VRFB applications.