Development of Tailored Hydrocarbon-Based Pentablock Copolymer Membranes for Sodium-Polysulfide Flow Batteries

Michelle Lehmann, Tomonori Saito, Mohamed Kamaludeen, Guang Yang

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Long-duration energy storage (LDES) technologies are pivotal for the adoption of renewables like wind and solar. Non-aqueous redox flow batteries (NARFBs) with a sodium-polysulfide hybrid system feature high energy density independent of power density, yet face challenges with polysulfide shuttling. This study investigates a hydrocarbon-based penta-block copolymer membrane, Nexar, to mitigate crossover effects by balancing TFSI conversion and their crosslink density. The membranes are annealed to induce crosslinking for reducing electrolyte uptake and enhancing mechanical stability while demonstrating excellent ionic conductivity. The hydrocarbon-based membranes address environmental concerns associated with perfluoroalkyl substances and improve the performance and durability of NARFBs. Our findings suggest that annealed Nexar membranes with tailored TFSI functionality offer a scalable, cost-effective solution for enhancing the efficiency of high-capacity energy storage systems, pivotal for grid integration of renewable sources.

Original languageEnglish
JournalBatteries and Supercaps
DOIs
StateAccepted/In press - 2024

Funding

This manuscript has been authored by UT\u2010Battelle, LLC under Contract No. DE\u2010AC05\u201000OR22725 with the U.S. Department of Energy. The United States Government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the United States Government retains a non\u2010exclusive, paid\u2010up, irrevocable, world\u2010wide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for United States Government purposes. The Department of Energy will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan ( http://energy.gov/downloads/doe\u2010public\u2010access\u2010plan ). This work is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Electricity (OE), Energy Storage Division. We would like to thank Kraton Corporation for providing Nexar samples and for fruitful discussions.

Keywords

  • Hydrocarbon membranes
  • Redox flow batteries
  • Sodium sulfur batteries

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