Most recently, iChEM researcher, Huamin Zhang and Xianfeng Li’s group from the Division of Energy Storage in DICP made a series of progress in porous non-fluorinated anion exchange membranes for flow batteries.

The group proved that internal cross-linking networks could promote the stability and selectivity of membranes. (Advanced Functional Materials, 2015, 25(17): 2583-2589) Meanwhile, the internal cross-linking network membrane was the prefect material which could significantly advance the stability and selectivity when it was applied to the anion exchange membrane for vanadium flow batteries. A battery assembled with the prepared membrane showed a stable battery performance over more than 6000 cycles. (Advanced Functional Materials 2016, 26(2), 210-218).

To solve the contradiction between selectivity and conductivity of the anion exchange membranes, the group put forward a sponge-like porous polybenzimidazole membrane, which had better performance with low-cost, via changing the compose and advancing the design. The battery assembled with this membrane showed a high energy efficiency which is over 90%, when battery was cycled at a current density of 80 mA/cm². Moreover the membrane exhibited high stability, continuously running for more than 10000 cycles without efficiency decay. This work was chosen as a cover paper and received good comments from the reviewers. They also mentioned that “This is a ground breaking membrane work in the field of VRB from a well-respected group. Their effort and novelty are to be commended, which will have immediate and long-lasting impact for the vanadium redox flow battery technology”.

This series results is on the basis of theory of anion sieving conducting without ion exchange groups, which was originally put forward by them. (Energy & Environmental Science 2013, 6, 776; Energy & Environmental Science 2012,5, 6299; Energy & Environmental Science 2011,4, 1147; Energy & Environmental Science 2011 4,1676; ChemsusChem 6 (2013) 328; J. Mater. Chem. A, 2014,2, 9524; Chem. Commun 2014, 50, 4596)

These works were financially supported by China Natural Science Foundation, the Outstanding Young Scientist Foundation and Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials (iChEM).

paper 1（Advanced Functional Materials, 2015, 25(17): 2583-2589）link：
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/adfm.201500284/full

paper 2（Advanced Functional Materials, 2016, 26(2), 210-218）link：
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/adfm.201503390/full

paper 3（Energy & Environmental Science 2016, 9, 441-447）link：
http://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2016/ee/c5ee02896e#!divAbstract