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Updated: May 7, 2026

A Protocol for Electrochemical Evaluations and State of Charge Diagnostics of a Symmetric Organic Redox Flow Battery
Published on: February 13, 2017
A dication cross-linked composite anion-exchange membrane for all-vanadium flow battery applications
Fengxiang Zhang1, Huamin Zhang, Chao Qu
1Center for Energy Storage Technologies, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 457 Zhongshan Road, Dalian, 116023 (PR China). zhfx2003@hotmail.com.
Abstract:
We report the fabrication and properties of a high-performance, inexpensive, composite, anion-exchange membrane (AEM) for an all-vanadium flow battery (VFB) application. The AEM was fabricated by dication cross-linking without the involvement of trimethylamine, and shows well-balanced anion conductivity and robustness due to imidazolium and imidazolium-ammonium functionalities, as well as a concomitantly achieved semi-interpenetrating network structure. The VFB single cell yielded a Coulombic efficiency of 99 % and an energy efficiency of 84 % at 80 mA cm(-2) , and operated for over 900 charge/discharge cycles. This work demonstrates the combined use of several favorable AEM design rationales, such as incorporating abundant and efficient anion-exchange groups, constructing a swelling- and oxidation-resistant structure, and facile fabrication; it provides an effective way of developing high-performance, low-cost AEMs for VFB applications.
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