Facile Preparation of EVOH-Based Amphoteric Ion Exchange Membrane Using Radiation Grafting Technique: A Preliminary Investigation on Its Application for Vanadium Redox Flow Battery

A novel amphoteric ion exchange membrane (AIEM) was successfully prepared by one-step radiation grafting of sodium styrene sulfonate (SSS) and dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate (DMAEMA) onto ethylene-vinylalcohol copolymer (EVOH) powder and sequent transferring into film by casting method. Fourier transform infrared spectrometry (FT-IR), thermal gravimetric analyzer (TGA) and elemental analysis testified SSS and DMAEMA were successfully grafted onto EVOH. The ion exchange capacity, water uptake and proton conductivity of the resulting AIEM increased with grafting yield (GY). At the GY of 40.9%, the permeability of vanadium ions of AIEM was 3.98 × 10(−7) cm(2) min(−1), which was better than Nafion117 membrane. Furthermore, the cost of this AIEM is much lower than that of Nafion117 membrane. This work provided a low cost and simple method for fabrication of the ion exchange membrane for vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB). Meanwhile, it also provided a new direction for the application of EVOH.