High Performance Hydroxyl Conductive Membrane For Advanced Rechargeable Alcaline Batteries

Increasingly strict environmental regulations, along with surging energy demand and oil prices, have given rise to a growing demand for efficient, clean, and renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind energy. Electricity generated from these renewable sources, however, suffers the drawback of fluctuation. To solve this problem, a low cost, reliable, long life and efficient electrical energy storage system is needed to ensure 24/7 reliability for commercial and residential grid applications. One possible solution is to replace the aqueous KOH electrolyte with a solid polymer electrolyte. However, low ionic conductivity, lack of structure integrity, and very limited availability of solid polymer electrolyte membranes prevent their widespread adoption. This project will develop a novel hydroxyl conductive membrane that has the characteristics of (1) high ionic conductivity; (2) good thermal, chemical, and electrochemical stability; (3) scalability for large-quantity manufacturing; and 4) low cost. Commercial Applications and other Benefits as described by the awardee: The membrane should enable a very simple biopolar battery design, leading to a battery with very high power density, and long life and cycle performance. The membrane could be used not only as an energy storage system for load leveling of electricity generated from renewable sources, but also for application in NiMH batteries that already have been commercialized for hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) or plug-in HEVs.