DEVELOPMENT OF HIGH CONDUCTIVITY ION EXCHANGE POLYMER FOR SOLID ELECTROLYTE REDOX FLOW BATTERY

• Main Author: Dina Putri Yanti, Maisya
• Format: Final Project
• Language: Indonesia
• Subjects: Teknik kimia
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/73835
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

Fossil energy still dominates the national energy until 2021. This is evidenced by the high level of fuel imports. In order to reduce the use of fossil energy, the Indonesian government continues to encourage the utilization of renewable energy in the national energy. Indonesia has considerable NRE potential, but some NRE sources are intermittent. So a battery with a large capacity is needed to store this energy. Redox flow battery (RFB) can be a solution to these conditions. This type of battery requires a membrane that functions to separate particles and avoid mixing electrolytes that can affect battery performance. Based on this, a suitable polymer is needed. This research aims to synthesize a highly conductive ion exchange polymer to compose the redox flow battery membrane. Experiments were carried out with simple synthesis procedures, namely polymerization and sulfonation and using raw materials that are easily obtained. Variations were made in the form of variations in time, TFSA/sulfonation concentration, and aromatic compounds in polymer synthesis. The synthesis results showed variations with aromatic compounds p-terphenyl 7.8%-v/v TFSA for 24 hours and biphenyl 31.25%-v/v TFSA for 42 hours produced relatively high yields and good solubility in chloroform so that they could be continued to the sulfonation stage. The sulfonation results showed that the sample with p-terphenyl polymer using oleum with 33.3%-v/v sulfonation agent for 24 hours produced the best membrane. The resulting membrane will be compared in characteristics with Nafion 212 and Nafion 211. The membrane test results showed oxidation stability through Fenton test resulted in weight loss of 16.6%, swelling ratio of 3%, water uptake of 40.3%, and conductivity of 26 mS/cm (30°C). These results show that some parameters of the membrane are close to the Nafion membrane, but the membrane conductivity value is smaller than Nafion 212 (103.83 mS/cm, 30°C). Based on this, the membrane research results require optimization.