Making Ceramic Membranes Used in Redox Flow Batteries with Sol-gel Process

Abstract

To increase the amount of renewable energy utilized in electrical grids, large- scale batteries are required. Redox flow batteries (RFBs) are promising batteries. However, the high cost of electrolytes and membranes impede the application of RFBs. It is worth exploring a new membrane with inexpensive material and simple process. The goals of this project are to explore a new anion exchange membrane using sol-gel process and to find the ceramic materials can be used as the membrane materials of alkaline-based organic RFBs. The membranes were prepared by coating silica paper with titania. After sintering, titania membranes survived in 3 M HCl but showed worse permeability performance than Nafion membranes. Thus, titania might not be the proper membrane material of anion exchange membranes. The cellulose paper coated with Ludox® CL was stable in 1 KOH. Therefore, alumina might be the proper membrane material utilized in alkaline-based organic RFBs.