A Cost‐Effective Mixed Matrix Polyethylene Porous Membrane for Long‐Cycle High Power Density Alkaline Zinc‐Based Flow Batteries

Abstract

Abstract Alkaline zinc‐based flow batteries (ZFBs) have received considerable interest for renewable energy storage due to their attractive features of low cost and high energy density. However, a membrane with high stability, high selectivity, and high ion conductivity is in urgent need. Herein, an economical mixed matrix membrane with highly anti‐alkali microporous hollow spheres (denoted as DM‐HM) is developed in this work. With excellent chemical and mechanical stability, DM‐HM can achieve a high area capacity of 100 mA h cm −2 for carbon felt (CF)||Zn@CF symmetrical flow battery, and thereby exhibits 500 stable cycles with a coulombic efficiency of 98.6% and an energy efficiency of 88.3% at 80 mA cm −2 for alkaline zinc–iron flow battery. Additionally, with 44 wt% of hollow spheres inside matrix, DM‐HM can dramatically shorten the ion transport pathway and results in a very high power density battery. A kilowatt stack assembled with DM‐HM shows a very impressive performance, further confirming the practicability of this scalable mixed matrix membrane for alkaline ZFBs.