Energy Storage Applications of Ionic Redox Transistor Membranes
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Date
2017-05
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The Ohio State University
Abstract
Electric vehicles in recent years have offered a cleaner alternative to internal combustion engines (ICE’s), but the lithium-ion batteries which power them currently lack the high energy density that gasoline provides. Modern battery architectures like redox flow batteries have achieved higher energy densities than conventional Li-ion batteries, but struggle with capacity fade due to self-discharge across the microporous membranes used to separate the anodic and cathodic cells of the battery. The purpose of this research is to demonstrate the use of an ionic redox transistor membrane, which assumes the function of the standard, porous membrane, and verify its ability to control ion transport between electrodes in a super-capacitor. The smart membrane controls transmembrane ion transport as function of its redox state, which can be adjusted by applying a voltage potential across the membrane. While previous testing of this membrane has primarily been done on small-scale membrane samples, this thesis investigates its function in semi-aqueous electrolyte, scalability of fabrication methods, and its applications in super-capacitor and redox flow batteries. The reduction in equilibration offered by this membrane would facilitate development of redox transistor batteries.
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Redox transistor membrane energy storage super-capacitor