Carboxymethyl cellulose-based polyelectrolyte as cationic exchange membrane for zinc-iodine batteries

Phonnapha Tangthuam; Jirapha Pimoei; Ahmad Azmin Mohamad; Falko Mahlendorf; Anongnat Somwangthanaroj; Soorathep Kheawhom

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2020.e05391

Carboxymethyl cellulose-based polyelectrolyte as cationic exchange membrane for zinc-iodine batteries

Heliyon. 2020 Oct 29;6(10):e05391. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2020.e05391. eCollection 2020 Oct.

Authors

Phonnapha Tangthuam¹, Jirapha Pimoei¹, Ahmad Azmin Mohamad², Falko Mahlendorf³, Anongnat Somwangthanaroj¹, Soorathep Kheawhom^{1

4}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand.
² School of Materials and Mineral Resources Engineering, Universiti of Sains Malaysia, Nibong Tebal 14300, Malaysia.
³ Department of Energy Technology, University Duisburg-Essen, Duisburg 47057, Germany.
⁴ Research Unit of Advanced Materials for Energy Storage, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand.

Abstract

The aim of this research is an evaluation of polyelectrolytes. In the application of zinc-iodine batteries (ZIBs), polyelectrolytes have high stability, good cationic exchange properties and high ionic conductivity. Polyelectrolytes are also cost-effective. Important component of ZIBs are cation exchange membranes (CEMs). CEMs prevent the crossover of iodine and polyiodide from zinc (Zn) electrodes. However, available CEMs are costly and have limited ionic conductivity at room temperature. CEMs are low-cost, have high stability and good cationic exchange properties. Herein, polyelectrolyte membranes prepared from carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) are examined. It is seen that an increase in the ratio of PVA leads to enhanced ionic conductivity as well as increased iodine and polyiodide crossover. ZIBs using polyelectrolytes having 75:25 wt.% CMC/PVA and 50:50 wt.% CMC/PVA show decent performance and cycling stability. Due to their low-cost and other salient features, CMC/PVA polyelectrolytes prove they have the capacity for use as cation exchange separators in ZIBs.

Keywords: Anionic polyelectrolyte; Cationic exchange; Chemical energy storage; Chemical engineering; Electrochemical energy engineering; Electrochemistry; Energy; Energy storage technology; Ionic conductivity; Materials science; Polyiodide crossover; Polymers; Zinc-iodine battery.