Ion-exchange membranes (IEMs) are widely applied in water and energy technologies, such as electrodialysis desalination and redox flow battery energy storage, respectively. However, an intrinsic tradeoff between conductivity and permselectivity constrains the efficiency of IEM-based technologies, where increasing the IEM ability to conduct ionic fluxes also inevitably weakens the charge discriminating ability of the membrane. To address this challenge, we are investigating the underlying mechanisms of the conductivity-permselectivity relationship and developing novel membranes to advance the tradeoff.
