Ultra-thin polytetrafluoroethene/Nafion/silica composite membrane with high performance for vanadium redox flow battery

Ultra-thin and high performance polytetrafluoroethene (PTFE)/Nafion/silica composite membrane has been successfully prepared by solution casting and sol-gel method for all vanadium redox flow battery (VRB). Thickness of ∼25 μm polytetrafluoroethene/Nafion (P/N) membrane is first prepared by impregnating porous PTFE membrane with Nafion solution, and then the P/N membrane is immersed in tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) solution to prepare PTFE/Nafion/silica (P/N/S) composite membranes. The chemical structures of membranes are investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), which prove that the Nafion resin and silica are well impregnated in PTFE membrane. The water uptake, proton conductivity, vanadium permeability and VRB single cell tests of the composite membrane are also investigated in detail. At 80 mA cm^-2, coulombic efficiency, voltage efficiency and energy efficiency of the VRB with P/N/S-7 (7 wt.% SiO₂in P/N/S) membrane are 93.9%, 87.2% and 81.9%, respectively. Furthermore, the self-discharge rate of the VRB with P/N/S membrane is much slower than that of the VRB with P/N membrane, which indicates that the membrane has good vanadium block ability. Fifty cycles charge-discharge test proves that the P/N/S membrane is very stable and possesses high chemical stability under the strong acid solutions.