The viability of MCM-41 as separator in secondary alkaline cells

• Main Authors: Meskon, Shahrul Razi, Othman, Raihan, Ani, Mohd Hanafi
• Format: Conference or Workshop Item
• Language: English; English
• Published: Institute of Physics Publishing 2018
• Subjects: TK Electrical engineering. Electronics Nuclear engineering
• Online Access: http://irep.iium.edu.my/65349/1/65349_The%20viability%20of%20MCM-41%20as%20separator%20in%20secondary_conference%20article.pdf; http://irep.iium.edu.my/65349/2/65349_The%20viability%20of%20MCM-41%20as%20separator%20in%20secondary_scopus.pdf; http://irep.iium.edu.my/65349/; http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1757-899X/290/1/012045/meta

The viability of MCM-41 membrane as a separator material in secondary alkaline cell is investigated. The inorganic membrane was employed in an alkaline nickel-zinc system. MCM-41 mesoporous material consists of arrays of hexagonal nano-pore channels. The membrane was synthesized using sol-gel route from parent solution comprising of quarternary ammonium surfactant, cethyltrimethylammonium bromide C16H33(CH3)3NBr (CTAB), hydrochloric acid (HCl), deionized water (H2O), ethanol (C2H5OH), and tetraethylortosilicate (TEOS). Both the anodic zinc/zinc oxide and cathodic nickel hydroxide electrodeposited film were coated with MCM-41 membrane. The Ni/MCM-41/Zn alkaline cell was then subjected to 100-cycle durability test and the structural stability of MCM-41 separator throughout the progression of the charge-discharge cycles is studied. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis on the dismantled cell shows that MCM-41 began to transform to lamellar MCM-50 on the 5th cycle and transformed almost completely on the 25th cycle. The phase transformation of MCM-41 hexagonal structure into gel-like MCM-50 prevents the mesoporous cell separator from diminished in the caustic alkaline surround. This work has hence demonstrated MCM-41 membrane is viable to be employed in secondary alkaline cells.