Mitigating Heterogeneous Mass Transport Through Polymeric Membrane/2D Material Structure

Ideal ion-exchange membranes for alternative energy devices would allow high transmission of only charge-balancing ion with a strong repulsion to undesirable species cross-permeation through membrane. These important metrics are far from being satisfactorily achieved with conventional membranes. The interatomic opening in graphene/boron nitride electron density distribution is extremely small for large ions or molecules to penetrate but is well correlated with the effective proton size. Addressing the selectivity issue of polymeric membranes for energy applications has remained a daunting challenge. Thus, the ability to tune 2D materials properties with polymer electrolyte membranes may offer unprecedented selectivity for membranes and consequently improve energy efficiency. In this presentation, research efforts in mitigating unenviable mass transport through ion-exchange membrane by incorporating 2D crystals into the membrane electrode assembly architecture in energy conversion and storage devices will be discussed.