Frontiers in Energy Research (Mar 2015)

Aqua-vanadyl ion interaction with Nafion® membranes

  • Vijayakumar eMurugesan,
  • Niranjan eGovind,
  • Bin eLi,
  • Xialiong eWei,
  • Zimin eNie,
  • Suntharampillai eThevuthasan,
  • Vince eSprenkle,
  • Wei eWang

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fenrg.2015.00010
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 3

Abstract

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Lack of comprehensive understanding about the interactions between Nafion membrane and battery electrolytes prevents the straightforward tailoring of optimal materials for redox flow battery applications. In this work, we analyzed the interaction between aqua-vanadyl cation and sulfonic sites within the pores of Nafion membranes using combined theoretical and experimental X-ray spectroscopic methods. Molecular level interactions namely solvent share and contact pair mechanisms are discussed based on Vanadium and Sulfur K-edge spectroscopic analysis.

Keywords