Utilization of novel alginate membranes developed for quinone based aqueous redox flow batteries

• Published in: Journal of industrial and engineering chemistry (Seoul, Korea) 2023, 122(0), , pp.264-273
• Main Authors: Permatasari, Agnesia, Mara Ikhsan, Muhammad, Henkensmeier, Dirk, Kwon, Yongchai
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 2,7-anthraquinone disulfonic acid; Alginate-based mambranes; Membranes treated with chloroform; Quinone based aqueous redox flow battery; TironA; 화학공학
• ISSN: 1226-086X; 1876-794X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jiec.2023.02.027

[Display omitted] •Alginate (Alg) membranes are used for quinone based ARFB.•TironA and 2,7-anthraquinone disulfonic acid are used as redox couple.•Effects of CaCl2, THF and chloroform on Alg membrane properties are investigated.•Solvent treatment of Alg membranes improves tensile strength and Young’s modulus.•ARFB including THF-Alg membrane shows best VE of 74.3% with ASR of 76.7 mΩ cm2. Alginate (Alg)-based mambranes are explored for use in aqueous redox flow batteries (ARFBs). Alg is a cheap natural material of low toxicity. To improve the properties of pristine Alg membranes, they are ionically crosslinked with calcium chloride (CaCl2) or alternatively treated with organic solvents. While the effect of CaCl2 is negligible, membranes treated with tetrahydrofuran (THF) or chloroform (THF-Alg and Chlor-Alg) show higher tensile strength and Young’s modulus than Alg and Ca-Alg membranes. All four membranes are tested in ARFBs including TironA and 2,7-anthraquinone disulfonic acid as redox couple. A significant increase in voltage efficiency (VE) is observed with the organic solvent-treated membranes (70.9, 70.6, 73.0 and 74.3 % for Alg, Ca-Alg, Chlor-Alg and THF-Alg membranes), while VE of ARFB including Nafion 117 is 73.0 %, meaning that ARFB including THF-Alg shows a better VE. This is partly due to the area specific resistance (ASR). More specifically, when ASR of 70 μm thick THF-Alg and 200 μm thick Nafion 117 membranes submerged in 2 M sulfuric acid is measured, they show 76.7 and 100.6 mΩ cm2. This difference in ASR promotes the rapid increase in VE of ARFB including THF-Alg membrane.