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Bae, Chulsung. "(Invited) Overview of Ion-Conducting Polymer Membranes and Membrane Separators for Water Electrolysis." ECS Meeting Abstracts MA2024-01, no. 34 (2024): 1691. http://dx.doi.org/10.1149/ma2024-01341691mtgabs.
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Traditional liquid alkaline electrolyzer uses a porous diaphragm to allow diffusion of hydroxide ion from a feed of concentrated KOH solution while separating anode and cathode and suppressing mixing of produced H2 and O2 gases. Although liquid alkaline electrolyzer is considered as a matured technology, recent renaissance of new electrode separators suggests there is significant potential for improvement in efficiency and cost reduction by lowering area specific resistance and increasing operation current density. Ion-conducting polymers (e.g., proton or hydroxide) are used as a key component of polymer electrolyte membranes, such as acidic proton exchange membrane (PEM) and alkaline anion exchange membrane (AEM), in electrochemical energy conversion and storage technologies including water electrolyzers. For example, the state-of-the-art PEM electrolyzers have used Nafion for a PEM and ionomer catalyst binder for decades, though it is not ideal proton-conducting membrane material for those applications. Recent pressure on perfluoroalkyl substrates (PFASs) from government and environmental activist groups due to their environmental and health hazard has attracted the development of alternative polymer electrolyte membranes based on hydrocarbon polymers within electrochemical society. Compared to perfluorosulfonated Nafion, hydrocarbon ion-conducting polymers (both PEMs and AEMs) can offer advantages of flexible synthetic tunability, lower gas permeability, and importantly lower production cost. In this tutorial, an overview of recent progress in the development of advanced porous membrane separators, PEMs and AEMs, their key membrane properties, and the state-of-the-art performance in applications of water electrolyzers will be discussed. Figure 1
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Jansonius, Ryan, Marta Moreno, and Benjamin Britton. "High Performance AEM Water Electrolysis with Aemion® Membranes." ECS Meeting Abstracts MA2022-01, no. 39 (2022): 1723. http://dx.doi.org/10.1149/ma2022-01391723mtgabs.
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By 2030 up to 50% of energy is expected to be carried in the bonds of H2. Global electrolysis capacity must increase from the current 240 MW to an anticipated 300 GW in 2030 and 3500 GW in 2050 to enable this transition. Alkaline and PEM electrolyzers are commercially mature with the currently market share of new installations roughly an equal split between these technologies. However, each of these electrolyzers are associated with challenges – alkaline electrolyzers operate at low current density, and require high concentration electrolytes (30 wt% KOH) to conduct hydroxides through the porous electrode separator (I.e., Zirfon). PEM electrolyzers use a proton conductive membrane to enable high current densities, however, running the reaction in acidic electrolyte requires platinum group catalysts and component coatings that hinder scalability at 2050 targets. AEM water electrolyzers address both of these challenges by pairing anion exchange membrane with alkaline electrolyte to enable high current density operation, at high pressure, without noble metal catalysts. These attributes enable the most cost-effective green hydrogen - bringing the DOE hydrogen shot target of $1/kg within reach. Anion exchange membrane chemistries have previously hindered this type of electrolyzer – AEMs based on quaternary amines, or pendant imidazolium groups chemically degrade in concentrated alkaline electrolyte, and mechanically degrade (from swelling) in low concentration alkaline media. Ionomr’s Aemion+ membranes are based on a sterically-protected polybenzimidazole chemistry and are chemically robust (stable in up to 10 M KOH), and exhibit low swelling to enable operation in low concentration electrolytes. These membranes are an enabling technology for long duration water and CO2 electrolysis. This talk highlights how Ionomr’s Aemion+ membranes enable performance in excess of 1 A/cm2 at 1.8 V with non-PGM catalysts and a variety of configurations, and >4000 hours of durability in continuous operation. Figure 1
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Lysenko, Olha, and Valerii Ikonnikov. "Investigation of energy efficiency of hydrogen production in alkaline electrolysers." Technology audit and production reserves 5, no. 3(73) (2023): 11–15. http://dx.doi.org/10.15587/2706-5448.2023.290309.
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The object of research is the energy efficiency of the electrolysis process in electrolyzers with alkaline electrolyte electrical parameters. The existing problem consists in obtaining the energy efficiency of the process in an electrolyzer with an alkaline electrolyte of more than 65 %. To solve this problem, it is proposed to manufacture an electrolyzer with metal electrodes made of stainless steel and separated from each other by a gas-tight membrane (Bologna cloth) to separate hydrogen and oxygen gases. To establish the energy efficiency characteristics, an experimental installation was made, and the necessary measuring equipment was also used. In the course of the work, a research methodology was developed and the necessary calculation of the measured values was carried out. As a result, the influence of the operating voltage on the consumption of the current flowing through the electrodes of the electrolyzer and the power consumed by it was revealed, the values of which increase with the increase of the operating voltage. It was established that the energy efficiency of the process in electrolyzers with an alkaline electrolyte decreases with an increase in the operating voltage. At operating voltages of 3 V, 4 V, and 5 V, the energy efficiency is 85.7 %, 77 %, and 70 %, respectively. The proposed technique involves conducting experimental studies directly on a functioning electrolyzer. The practical implementation of the use of a gas-tight membrane (Bologna fabric) can help reduce the cost of manufacturing an electrolyzer. Therefore, the presented research will be useful for the industrial production of hydrogen.
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Lindquist, Grace, Raina A. Krivina, Sarah Beaudoin, Nathan Stovall, and Shannon W. Boettcher. "(Energy Technology Division Graduate Student Award sponsored by BioLogic) Design Principles for High-performance and Durable Anion Exchange Membrane water Electrolyzers." ECS Meeting Abstracts MA2022-01, no. 35 (2022): 1441. http://dx.doi.org/10.1149/ma2022-01351441mtgabs.
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Water electrolysis powered by renewable sources such as wind or solar produces clean hydrogen gas, which is used for many industrial processes and will be essential in a future clean energy economy. Alkaline water electrolysis (AWE) and proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolysis are mature technologies at megawatt to gigawatt scale. AWE uses earth abundant electrode and catalyst materials submerged in caustic liquid electrolyte (usually KOH or NaOH) separated by a porous diaphragm. This configuration can suffer from gas crossover and shunt current limitations. PEM electrolyzers circumvent these barriers by using an ionically-conductive solid electrolyte membrane that reduces gas crossover and allows for pure water operation that eliminates shunt currents. However, these membranes create a locally acidic environment that necessitates the use of expensive platinum-group-metal (PGM) catalyst materials and hardware coatings. Anion exchange membrane (AEM) electrolysis is an emerging technology that has the potential to combine the benefits of liquid alkaline and PEM. AEM electrolyzers use an anion-selective membrane, maintaining the pure water operation of PEM but creating a locally-alkaline environment allowing for the use of non-PGM materials. However, AEM electrolysis is still immature. In particular, the hydroxide-conducting membrane and ionomer have not yet achieved sufficient stability in pure water to compete with PEM systems. The specific dominant degradation mechanism and location has also not been conclusively identified. Further, while non-PGM catalysts such as Ni- and Fe-based oxyhydroxide catalysts out-compete PGM catalysts in three-electrode KOH studies, this performance does not carry to the pure water electrolyzer configuration. In my talk I report AEM electrolyzer performance below 2 V at 1 A·cm-2 in pure water for both PGM and non-PGM anode catalysts. I will also discuss the specific degradation mechanism of the ionomer and membrane during electrolyzer operation with both catalysts. Understanding the differences in performance and durability with precious metal and earth abundant materials is key for AEMs to compete with current electrolyzer technologies. I compare the performance and stability of five Ni-, Co-, and Fe-based catalysts and compare to IrOx. XPS and cross-sectional SEM data show oxidation of the ionomer binder at the anode for all catalysts, which results in significant degradation and performance loss. I also show additional degradation is induced by introducing soluble Fe species, indicating separate mechanisms beyond ionomer degradation are present in the non-PGM systems. In addition to the fundamental insights into the dynamic behavior of non-PGM catalysts and oxidative durability of ionomeric polymer materials, these findings contribute to bringing low-cost AEM electrolyzer technology to scale. Figure 1
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Hebelmann, Matthias, Jason Keonhag Lee, Sudong Chae, et al. "Pure-Water-Fed Forward-Bias Bipolar Membrane CO2 Electrolyzer." ECS Meeting Abstracts MA2024-02, no. 62 (2024): 4188. https://doi.org/10.1149/ma2024-02624188mtgabs.
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Electrochemical CO2 reduction (ECO2R) has emerged as a promising approach to directly produce carbon-containing fuels from renewable sources and CO2, offering a practical opportunity to mitigate greenhouse-gas emissions and climate change. The key challenges to realize this vision are CO2 electrolyzers with high energy efficiency, faradaic efficiency (FE), carbon-conversion efficiency and can also maintain durable operations. As high alkalinity is beneficial for ECO2R reactivity and selectivity, flow cells or zero-gap devices supported by alkaline aqueous electrolytes are used to demonstrate outstanding ECO2R performance. However, this leads to two major challenges. First is the formation of (bi)carbonates (CO3 2-/HCO3 -) and subsequent CO2 crossover issue resulting in either reactant loss or additional energy penalty of regenerating and purifying CO2. Second is that alkali cations transfer through the membrane and build up on the cathode and result in carbonate salt precipitation, which leads to blockage of CO2 transport pathways, efficiency loss and device failure. Therefore, it is an urgent task to develop novel reactions to address both challenges. Herein, we design asymmetrical bipolar membranes assembled into a zero-gap CO2 electrolyzer fed with pure water, solving both challenges. By investigating and optimizing the anion-exchange-layer thickness, cathode differential pressure, and cell temperature, the forward-bias BPM CO2 electrolyzer achieves CO faradic efficiency over 80% with partial current density over 200 mA cm-2 at less than 3.0 V with negligible CO2 crossover. In addition, this electrolyzer achieves 0.61 and 2.1 mV h-1 decay rate at 150 and 300 mA cm-2 for 200h and 100h, respectively. Post-mortem analysis indicates that the deterioration of catalyst/polymer-electrolyte interfaces resulted from catalyst structural change and ionomer degradation at reductive potential shows the decay mechanism. All these results point to future research direction and show a promising pathway to deploy CO2 electrolyzers at-scale for industrial applications.
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Kuleshov, V. N., N. V. Kuleshov, S. V. Kurochkin, A. A. Gavrilyuk, M. A. Klimova, and O. Yu Grigorieva. "Polysulfone-Based Anion-exchange Membranes for Alkaline Water Electrolyzers." Èlektrohimiâ 60, no. 8 (2024): 553–62. https://doi.org/10.31857/s0424857024080038.
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By the method of chloromethylation and further quaternization of polysulfone, the synthesis of an anion-exchange membrane for electrolyzers of water with an alkaline electrolyte was carried out. The characteristics of the resulting membrane are determined: porosity, electrical conductivity, gas density. A comparative analysis of the characteristics of the membrane and the porous diaphragm (analog of ZifronPerl) is given, the results of tests in the composition of an alkaline electrolyzer battery in comparison with a porous diaphragm based on unmodified polysulfone with hydrophilic filler (TiO2) synthesized by phase inversion are presented. A possible mechanism of degradation of the main chain of quaternized polysulfone is described. The ways of further development of the technology of anion-exchange membranes based on polysulfone are proposed.
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Rohman, Abdul, Rusdianasari, and Aida Syarif. "Generating Hydrogen Gas with a Polyvinyl Alcohol Membrane Dry Cell Electrolyzer Using KOH Electrolyte." International Journal of Research in Vocational Studies (IJRVOCAS) 4, no. 2 (2024): 10–15. http://dx.doi.org/10.53893/ijrvocas.v4i2.291.
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Global environmental concerns requiring excellent air quality have prompted the development of a variety of eco-friendly energy sources. Hydrogen gas is an environmentally friendly option that may be created using an electrolysis device that converts water into hydrogen (H2) and oxygen (O2). In this study, a dry cell electrolyzer with a polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) membrane was used as a separator between two stainless steel 316 electrodes to generate a high hydrogen yield. The hydrogen gas production from the dry cell electrolyzer was determined using gas chromatography. The results showed that using a KOH electrolyte and a PVA membrane considerably enhanced the hydrogen gas composition. Hydrogen gas compositions after electrolysis using a dry cell electrolyzer without a PVA membrane and KOH electrolyte concentrations of 0 M, 0.04 M, 0.07 M, and 0.11 M being 13.70%, 25.10%, 32.50%, and 15.60%, respectively. With a PVA membrane, the hydrogen compositions were 71.50%, 89.10%, 80.50%, and 84.60%, respectively. The results of these experiments show that the most hydrogen gas was produced utilizing a dry cell electrolyzer with a PVA membrane and a 0.04 M KOH electrolyte concentration. When a PVA membrane and a KOH electrolyte are utilized in electrolysis, the hydrogen gas composition improves significantly compared to when either is utilized.
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Oliveira, Alexandra M., Brian P. Setzler, and Yushan Yan. "Anode-Fed Anion Exchange Membrane Electrolyzers for Hydrogen Generation Tolerant to Anion Contaminants." ECS Meeting Abstracts MA2022-02, no. 44 (2022): 1679. http://dx.doi.org/10.1149/ma2022-02441679mtgabs.
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Anion exchange membrane water electrolysis has the ability to produce green hydrogen with high voltage efficiencies at low capital cost with zero CO2 emissions. The alkaline environment of these devices allows for the use of economical metal catalysts and anion exchange membranes (AEMs) that conduct hydroxide ions and are less expensive than their proton exchange membrane counterparts. However, research has shown that anion contamination of hydroxide exchange membranes can lead to significant performance losses in anion exchange membrane fuel cells (AEMFCs), particularly when air fed to the oxygen-reducing cathode contains CO2.1 A similar contamination effect occurs in anion exchange membrane electrolyzers (AEMELs), when dissolved CO2 in the electrolyte reacts to form carbonate (CO3 2-) and bicarbonate (HCO3 2-) anions which compete with the hydroxide (OH-) ions that must be conducted through the AEM and ionomer. The presence of these and other anion contaminants can lower the ionic conductivity of the cell. Under high current density operation, an AEMEL undergoes a self-purging process that uses an ionic potential gradient to push hydroxide and anion contaminants through the membrane to the anode. This creates a significant pH gradient between cathode and anode that can lead to concentration polarization which further lowers performance.2 In this work, we use 1-D CO2 transport modeling and experiments to show how altering the electrolyte feed method allows for CO2-tolerant AEMEL operation in several different electrolytes. The unique advantages of AEMELs over AEMFCs and proton exchange membrane electrolyzers (PEMELs) are that (1) this self-purge occurs during normal operation, and (2) they allow for flexibility in the location of the potentially contaminated water feed. In PEMELs, water is intuitively fed to the anode, and cation contaminants are purged through the entire MEA to the cathode. Although water in AEMELs is intuitively fed to the cathode, where it is consumed in the hydrogen evolution reaction, water can diffuse easily through the membrane, allowing for it to be fed as an anolyte to the oxygen-evolving side of the cell. This allows for better contaminant rejection because anions can be concentrated mostly on the anode side of the electrolyzer. The model described in this paper predicts that an anode-fed AEMEL can more easily purge CO2 without contaminating as much of the AEM or inducing as high of a pH gradient due to more rapid self-purging of anions. We find experimentally that AEMELs with DI water anolyte are more tolerant of forced CO2 contamination than those with DI water catholytes, which is likely one of the major reasons for superior anode-feed performance. Furthermore, electrolyzer operation at high current densities can lead to voltage recoveries greater than 200 mV due to self-purging of anions. Although supporting electrolytes such as potassium hydroxide can mitigate catholyte contamination, the anion self-purging shows that electrolyzer operation in DI water and even tap water (containing fluoride, chloride, and nitrates) can improve when employing an anode feed. 1. Y. Zheng et al., Energy Environ. Sci., 12, 2806–2819 (2019). 2. B. P. Setzler, L. Shi, T. Wang, and Y. Yan, in ECS Meeting Abstracts, vol. MA2019-01, p. 1824–1824, IOP Publishing (2019) https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1149/MA2019-01/34/1824.
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Lee, Albert S. "Poly(pyrrolidinium)-Based Anion Exchange Membranes and Ionomers for Anion Exchange Membrane Water Electrolyzers." ECS Meeting Abstracts MA2024-02, no. 43 (2024): 2874. https://doi.org/10.1149/ma2024-02432874mtgabs.
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Anion exchange membranes and ionomers are a critical technology for next generation energy conversion devices such as fuel cells, water electrolyzers, and CO2 electrolyzers. However, alkaline stability and poor understanding of performance and durability limiting descriptors have limited the development of a commercial benchmark membrane and ionomer, as is the case for Nafion and other perfluorinated ionomers in proton exchange membranes. In this talk, the chemistry of some new poly(pyrrolidinium)-functionalized membranes and ionomers will be introduced, including their simple membrane chemistry based on radical cyclopolymerization of diallylammonium functionalized aryl-ether-free backbones and benzene-free polydiallylammonium ionomeric binders. Synergistically integrated membranes and ionomers exhibit excellent alkaline stability, tunable IEC and crosslink density, controllable water uptake, which help elucidate critical performance-defining features of anion exchange membrane water electrolyzer membrane electrode assemblies.
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Yang, Fan, Qiang Sun, and Cortney Mittelsteadt. "Advanced PEM Electrolyzer Membrane for Hydrogen Crossover Mitigation." ECS Meeting Abstracts MA2023-02, no. 39 (2023): 1898. http://dx.doi.org/10.1149/ma2023-02391898mtgabs.
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Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) electrolyzers are a promising technology to produce hydrogen as a clean energy carrier. However, a significant challenge is hydrogen crossover, especially at high pressures (>40 bar) and when utilizing thin (<100 um) membranes. This poses significant safety hazard due to the mixing of H2 with oxygen, especially in the balance of plant due to higher void volumes. Mitigating membrane crossover is therefore critical to the safety of the entire PEM electrolyzer system. Several research groups have demonstrated preliminary works on the H2 crossover mitigated membrane for PEM electrolyzers. Klose et al. [1] implemented a Pt interlayer between one piece of NR212 membrane and a piece of N115 membrane. The work showed significant reduction of H2 crossover in their design compared to the regular PFSA membrane. However, the work only demonstrated the effectiveness of crossover reduction under ambient pressure. Moreover, the spraying method they proposed is not readily scalable. Stahler et al. [2] demonstrated that applying an interlayer between the anode catalyst layer and recombination layer will help to reduce the H2 crossover. However, this work also failed to demonstrate mitigation at high H2 pressure. Additionally, each of these methods used Pt/C in the recombination layer. Carbon, though robust in the fuel cell applications may readily oxidize at the higher electrolyzer potentials. This could have consequences on membrane durability. Preliminary data has demonstrated that our proposed mitigate strategy can significantly reduce the H2 crossover. The MEA with regular NR212 membrane cannot be operated safely under 70 oC under even mild pressure. However, with our addition of the highly efficient recombination layer, the crossover can be dropped to 6% LEL even at 40 bar. This discovery will help to improve the PEM electrolyzer safety dramatically. References: C. Klose et al 2018 J. Electrochem. Soc. 165 F1271 A. Stähler et al 2022 J. Electrochem. Soc. 169 034522
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Li, Kui, Kaustubh Khedekar, Mahlon Wilson, Jacob S. Spendelow, and Siddharth Komini Babu. "Enhancing Durability of Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Water Electrolyzer through Incorporation of Gas Recombination Catalyst in Membrane." ECS Meeting Abstracts MA2023-02, no. 42 (2023): 2124. http://dx.doi.org/10.1149/ma2023-02422124mtgabs.
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Hydrogen will become a critical component of the future energy landscape driven primarily by the growing use of renewable energy sources. Polymer electrolyte membrane water electrolyzer (PEMWE) is a superior technology to facilitate hydrogen production from renewable electricity. However, durability remains a significant challenge for the widespread commercialization of electrolyzers.1 Cross-over of H2 from cathode to anode could lead to explosive mixtures in the anode causing safety concerns during operation. Hydrogen crossover also impacts the durability of the anode catalyst.2 Hydrogen permeation from the cathode to the anode through the membrane reduces the anodic Ir catalyst to a low valence state leading to increased dissolution of the Ir catalyst at a high cell voltage. Utilizing thin membranes (~50µm) can improve the electrolyzer system’s efficiency but also increase the hydrogen permeation, particularly at high pressures. In this study, we present a methodology to incorporate platinum as a gas recombination catalyst (GRC) layer into commercial membranes, significantly reducing hydrogen permeation rates and mitigating anode catalyst degradation. Membranes with GRC can mitigate the degradation of PEMWE, leading to more efficient and durable PEM electrolysis systems for hydrogen production. The methodology developed enables higher control of the GRC layer properties (Pt particle size and location in the membrane). Ex-situ measurement of hydrogen permeation, shown in Figure 1, indicates a significant reduction in the permeation rate for GRC incorporated NR 212. This study presents a systematic electrochemical evaluation of anode degradation in PEMWE with and without GRC in the membrane using accelerated stress tests. The durability of the GRC during long-term operation is also presented. Acknowledgment This research is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office through the Hydrogen from Next-generation Electrolyzers of Water (H2NEW) consortium. References 1. Tomic, A. Z., Pivac, I., Barbir, F., Journal of Power Sources (2023) 557 2. Rheinlander, P. J., and Durst, J., Journal of the Electrochemical Society (2021) 168 (2) Figure 1
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Najimova, Nursuliw Bazarbaevna Utepbaeva Gulnaz Saken qizi Urazbayeva Aqmaral Sulayman qizi. "WATER ELECTROLYSIS STUDIES AND CHEMICAL TECHNOLOGICAL DESCRIPTION." INTERNATIONAL BULLETIN OF APPLIED SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 3, no. 4 (2023): 509–13. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7831415.
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In particular, more attention is being paid to the electrolysis of water for the production of hydrogen a number of researches are being conducted to collect renewable energy. Here we have comprehensively reviewed all water electrolyzers research directions through computational analysis using citation networks to objectively identify emerging provides interdisciplinary information to forecast technologies and trends. The results show that all research areas increase the number of publications every year, and the following two areas in particular increasing in number of publications: "microbial electrolysis" and "alkaline catalysts" water electrolyzer and polymer electrolyte membrane water electrolyzer.
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Yodwong, Burin, Damien Guilbert, Melika Hinaje, Matheepot Phattanasak, Wattana Kaewmanee, and Gianpaolo Vitale. "Proton Exchange Membrane Electrolyzer Emulator for Power Electronics Testing Applications." Processes 9, no. 3 (2021): 498. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/pr9030498.
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This article aims to develop a proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzer emulator. This emulator is realized through an equivalent electrical scheme. It allows taking into consideration the dynamic operation of PEM electrolyzers, which is generally neglected in the literature. PEM electrolyzer dynamics are reproduced by the use of supercapacitors, due to the high value of the equivalent double-layer capacitance value. Steady-state and dynamics operations are investigated in this work. The design criteria are addressed. The PEM electrolyzer emulator is validated by using a 400-W commercial PEM electrolyzer. This emulator is conceived to test new DC-DC converters to supply the PEM ELs and their control as well, avoiding the risk to damage a real electrolyzer for experiment purposes. The proposed approach is valid both for a single cell and for the whole stack emulation.
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Gerhardt, Michael Robert, Alejandro O. Barnett, Thulile Khoza, et al. "An Open-Source Continuum Model for Anion-Exchange Membrane Water Electrolysis." ECS Meeting Abstracts MA2023-01, no. 36 (2023): 2002. http://dx.doi.org/10.1149/ma2023-01362002mtgabs.
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Anion-exchange membrane (AEM) electrolysis has the potential to produce green hydrogen at low cost by combining the advantages of conventional alkaline electrolysis and proton-exchange membrane electrolysis. The alkaline environment in AEM electrolysis enables the use of less expensive catalysts such as nickel, whereas the use of a solid polymer electrolyte enables differential pressure operation. Recent advancements in AEM performance and lifetime have spurred interest in AEM electrolysis, but many open research areas remain, such as understanding the impacts of water transport in the membrane and salt content in the electrolyte on cell performance and degradation. Furthermore, integrating electrolyser systems into renewable energy grids necessitates dynamic operation of the electrolyser cell, which introduces additional challenges. Computational modelling of AEM electrolysis is ideally suited to tackle many of these open questions by providing insight into the transport processes and electrochemical reactions occurring in the cell under dynamic conditions. In this work, an open-source, transient continuum modelling framework for anion-exchange membrane (AEM) electrolysis is presented and applied to study electrolyzer cell dynamic performance. The one-dimensional cell model contains coupled equations for multiphase flow in the porous transport layers, a parameterized solution property model for potassium hydroxide electrolytes, and coupled ion and water transport equations to account for water activity gradients within the AEM. The model is validated with experimental results from an AEM electrolyser cell. We find that pH gradients develop within the electrolyte due to the production and consumption of hydroxide, which can lead to voltage losses and cell degradation. The influence of these pH gradients on potential catalyst dissolution mechanisms is explored and discussed. Finally, initial studies of transient operation will be presented. This work has been performed in the frame of the CHANNEL project. This project has received funding from the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen 2 Joint Undertaking (now Clean Hydrogen Partnership) under grant agreement No 875088. This Joint undertaking receives support from the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation program, Hydrogen Europe and Hydrogen Europe Research. Some of this work has been performed within the MODELYS project "Electrolyzer 2030 – Cell and stack designs" financially supported by the Research Council of Norway under project number 326809.
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Motupally, Shikhar, Lubhani Mishra, Raghav Sai Thiagarajan, and Venkat R. Subramanian. "Modeling Water Transport in Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Electrolyzers Using a One-Dimensional Transport Model." ECS Meeting Abstracts MA2024-01, no. 38 (2024): 2282. http://dx.doi.org/10.1149/ma2024-01382282mtgabs.
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In this work, we present a water transport model to quantify the movement of water across Nafion® membranes in a proton exchange membrane electrolyzer as a function of varying operating conditions and membrane parameters. This physics-based model is based on the three main water transport mechanisms: diffusion, electro-osmotic drag, and pressure-driven flow. Three sets of equations are obtained to model the movement of water on the cathode side – I. Material balances for hydrogen and water in the flow channel (z-direction), II. Water movement across the membrane in the x-direction, and III. Expressions for variable membrane properties to serve as model inputs. The condensation of water at the cathode is also modeled to understand the respective transport contributions from the vapor and liquid phases. The coupled equation sets are solved numerically with appropriate boundary conditions. An analytical solution is also obtained for the governing differential equation for the mole fraction of water in the vapor phase. This study is perhaps the first effort for a detailed physics-based transport model to predict the water transport in the electrolyzer in one dimension using the actual measured values for the physical parameters of the system. The model results are compared with the experimental data available for water transport, and a good agreement is observed over the wide range of current, temperature and pressure differentials. Further, with the help of this simple transport model, the numerical analysis is performed to delineate the effect of electrolyzer operating conditions on the net water transport across the membrane, water condensation at the cathode, individual contribution of the transport fluxes, and electrolyzer design. Finally, the model is exercised to simulate the dependence of water transport as a function of membrane thickness. This confirms the validity of the current approach of using thin reinforced membranes by electrolyzer fabricators. Figure 1
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Marin, Daniela, Joseph T. Perryman, Adam Nielander, Thomas F. Jaramillo, McKenzie Hubert, and Shannon W. Boettcher. "Evaluating Bipolar Membrane Electrolyzers for Green Hydrogen Production from Impure Water Sources." ECS Meeting Abstracts MA2022-01, no. 41 (2022): 2461. http://dx.doi.org/10.1149/ma2022-01412461mtgabs.
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Non-potable water represents a vast resource that can enable hydrogen generation to support energy storage and chemical manufacturing, as well as oxygen generation for undersea applications. Ionic impurities present in brackish water, wastewater, and seawater are highly detrimental to the operational stability of state-of-the-art proton-exchange membrane water electrolyzers (PEMWE). Chloride (Cl-) impurities are particularly pernicious, as Cl- can be oxidized to form reactive Cl2/HOCl/OCl- species at the anode which accelerates the degradation of electrolyzer components. In contrast, bipolar membrane water electrolyzer (BPMWE) architectures can be used to control the transport and reactivity of feed impurities by leveraging ion-selective membranes that allow for independent control of electrolyte pH at each electrode, thereby opening a path toward impurity-tolerant electrolyzers. In this work, we compare the performance of BPMWE and PEMWE architectures fed by simulated seawater (0.5M NaClaq) at current densities up to 500mA cm-2 for up to six hours. We present quantification of the transport of ions across the BPM, as well as oxidized chlorine species generation. In the PEMWE construct, we observe up to 14 μM of oxidized species after only 6 hours of operation; in the BPMWE, chloride oxidation is successfully suppressed (<0.1μM) at current densities below 500mA cm-2. Furthermore, we observed that Cl- ion crossover was constant even as current density increased, highlighting that cross-membrane H+/OH- transport is favored at high current densities.
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Martinho, Diogo Loureiro, Mohammadmahdi Abdollahzadehsangroudi, and Torsten Berning. "Computational Fluid Dynamics Analysis of Gas Crossover in an Alkaline Electrolyzer Using a Multifluid Model." ECS Meeting Abstracts MA2024-02, no. 46 (2024): 3286. https://doi.org/10.1149/ma2024-02463286mtgabs.
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Green hydrogen has emerged as a key solution for high-intensity energy storage, with various technologies introduced to facilitate its production, including alkaline electrolyzers (AWE), proton exchange membrane electrolyzers, and solid oxide electrolyzers. While each of these technologies presents unique strengths and weaknesses, alkaline electrolyzers are particularly noted for their cost-effectiveness and robust structure in hydrogen production. However, a comprehensive understanding of the internal dynamics of the electrolyzer during operation requires detailed modeling. This study aims to delve into the dynamics of AWE, optimizing operational parameters and cell design to enable higher current operation without increasing voltage losses, thereby enhancing overall efficiency. Computational fluid dynamic modeling is employed to achieve this goal, focusing on gas bubble behavior within the electrolyzer, their impact on cell performance, and the dynamics of mass transfer between different phases. One drawback of alkaline electrolyzers is the crossover of hydrogen and oxygen through the membrane, resulting in reduced hydrogen purity and increased hydrogen loss. The preset study investigates the effect of electrolyte saturation levels on crossover, highlighting its significance. Additionally, a parametric study is conducted, varying bubble diameter across simulations to further understand its implications. Figure 1
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Brueckner, Sven, Wen Ju, and Peter Strasser. "Efficient Ni-NC Gas Diffusion Electrodes for CO2 Electrolyzer with High Utilization Efficiencies and Single Pass Conversions Towards CO." ECS Meeting Abstracts MA2024-01, no. 37 (2024): 2133. http://dx.doi.org/10.1149/ma2024-01372133mtgabs.
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The electrochemical CO2 reduction in membrane electrolyzer devices can become a key technology to close the anthropologic carbon cycle. For industrialisation of CO2 electrolyzers, however, performance shortcomings of today’s state-of-art electrolyzer designs and cathodes have to be addressed. Alkaline Membrane CO2 electrolyzers suffer from low utilization efficiency of CO2 due to an acid-base CO2 loss to carbonates, which limits the CO2 utilization efficiency and single pass conversion to 50% in AEM CO2-to-CO electrolyzer. Bipolar Membrane CO2 electrolyzers suffer from high cell voltage and lower Faradic efficiencies due to the acidic environment. All thoses designs suffer from layer flooding or salting events which limit the durability of the cells. New cell designs and new diagnostic tools are needed to predict, diagnose, and eliminate detrimental operating regimes of CO2 electrolyzers. In this work, we report on NiNC catalyst-based cathode GDEs for CO2 reduction to CO in a zero-gap membrane electrolyzer cell. We compare AEM and BPM cell designs. We propose the carbon crossover coefficient, CCC, as a new diagnostic analysis tool to monitor and understand through- or in-plane mass transport limitations in AEM and BPM cells. We also demonstrate how N2 bleeds can be used as diagnostic tools to recognize salting inside the electrolyzer cell. In our AEM studies, we show that sufficient CO2 access to the catalyst surface sites is important to achieve a high performance. Under near neutral conditions on the anode we report 85% FE towards CO at 300 mA cm-2 at 3.6 V with single pass conversion of 40% which is very close to the theoretical maximum. In addition, we can report high energy efficiency but only a utilization efficiency of around 50%. In our BPM studies, we show that NiNC GDEs are active and stable cathodes in zero-gap membrane electrolyzer. Protons raise the utilization efficiency as the carbonate will decompose into CO2 and water. To handle the changed electro osmotic water drag we replaced the ionomer with PTFE and could achieve 82% FE and 69% single pass conversion at 500 mA cm-2 with close to 100% CO2 utilization efficiency towards CO. We show that using a either an AEM or BPM electrolyzer design we can reach over 100h stable performance at 100 mA cm-2. Figure caption: CO2 singel pass conversion and lambda comparison of AEM and BPM CO2 reduction electrolyzer cells. Figure 1
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El Jery, Atef, Hayder Mahmood Salman, Rusul Mohammed Al-Khafaji, Maadh Fawzi Nassar, and Mika Sillanpää. "Thermodynamics Investigation and Artificial Neural Network Prediction of Energy, Exergy, and Hydrogen Production from a Solar Thermochemical Plant using a Polymer Membrane Electrolyzer." Molecules 28, no. 6 (2023): 2649. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/molecules28062649.
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Hydrogen production using polymer membrane electrolyzers is an effective and valuable way of generating an environmentally friendly energy source. Hydrogen and oxygen generated by electrolyzers can power drone fuel cells. The thermodynamic analysis of polymer membrane electrolyzers to identify key losses and optimize their performance is fundamental and necessary. In this article, the process of the electrolysis of water by a polymer membrane electrolyzer in combination with a concentrated solar system in order to generate power and hydrogen was studied, and the effect of radiation intensity, current density, and other functional variables on the hydrogen production was investigated. It was shown that with an increasing current density, the voltage generation of the electrolyzer increased, and the energy efficiency and exergy of the electrolyzer decreased. Additionally, as the temperature rose, the pressure dropped, the thickness of the Nafion membrane increased, the voltage decreased, and the electrolyzer performed better. By increasing the intensity of the incoming radiation from 125 W/m2to 320 W/m2, the hydrogen production increased by 111%, and the energy efficiency and exergy of the electrolyzer both decreased by 14% due to the higher ratio of input electric current to output hydrogen. Finally, machine-learning-based predictions were conducted to forecast the energy efficiency, exergy efficiency, voltage, and hydrogen production rate in different scenarios. The results proved to be very accurate compared to the analytical results. Hyperparameter tuning was utilized to adjust the model parameters, and the models’ results showed an MAE lower than 1.98% and an R2 higher than 0.98.
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Şahin, Mustafa Ergin. "An Overview of Different Water Electrolyzer Types for Hydrogen Production." Energies 17, no. 19 (2024): 4944. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/en17194944.
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While fossil fuels continue to be used and to increase air pollution across the world, hydrogen gas has been proposed as an alternative energy source and a carrier for the future by scientists. Water electrolysis is a renewable and sustainable chemical energy production method among other hydrogen production methods. Hydrogen production via water electrolysis is a popular and expensive method that meets the high energy requirements of most industrial electrolyzers. Scientists are investigating how to reduce the price of water electrolytes with different methods and materials. The electrolysis structure, equations and thermodynamics are first explored in this paper. Water electrolysis systems are mainly classified as high- and low-temperature electrolysis systems. Alkaline, PEM-type and solid oxide electrolyzers are well known today. These electrolyzer materials for electrode types, electrolyte solutions and membrane systems are investigated in this research. This research aims to shed light on the water electrolysis process and materials developments.
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Zhang, Zhen, and Ju Li. "A Carbon-Efficient Bicarbonate Electrolyzer." ECS Meeting Abstracts MA2024-02, no. 62 (2024): 4186. https://doi.org/10.1149/ma2024-02624186mtgabs.
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Carbon efficiency is one of the most pressing problems of carbon dioxide electroreduction today. While there have been studies on anion exchange membrane electrolyzers with carbon dioxide (gas) and bipolar membrane electrolyzers with bicarbonate (aqueous) feedstocks, both suffer from low carbon efficiency. In anion exchange membrane electrolyzers, this is due to carbonate anion crossover, whereas in bipolar membrane electrolyzers, the exsolution of carbon dioxide (gas) from the bicarbonate solution is the culprit. Here, we first elucidate the root cause of the low carbon efficiency of liquid bicarbonate electrolyzers with thermodynamic calculation and then achieve carbon-efficient carbon dioxide electroreduction by adopting a near-neutral-pH cation exchange membrane, a glass fiber intermediate layer, and carbon dioxide (gas) partial pressure management. We convert highly concentrated bicarbonate solution to solid formate fuel with a yield (carbon efficiency) of greater than 96%. A device test is demonstrated at 100 mA cm-2 with a full-cell voltage of 3.1 V for over 200 h [1]. Reference: [1] Zhang et al., A carbon-efficient bicarbonate electrolyzer, Cell Rep. Phys. Sci. 4, 101662 (2023).
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Noor Azam, Adam Mohd Izhan, Ng Khai Li, Nurul Noramelya Zulkefli, et al. "Parametric Study and Electrocatalyst of Polymer Electrolyte Membrane (PEM) Electrolysis Performance." Polymers 15, no. 3 (2023): 560. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/polym15030560.
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An investigation was conducted to determine the effects of operating parameters for various electrode types on hydrogen gas production through electrolysis, as well as to evaluate the efficiency of the polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) electrolyzer. Deionized (DI) water was fed to a single-cell PEM electrolyzer with an active area of 36 cm2. Parameters such as power supply (50–500 mA/cm2), feed water flow rate (0.5–5 mL/min), water temperature (25−80 °C), and type of anode electrocatalyst (0.5 mg/cm2 PtC [60%], 1.5 mg/cm2 IrRuOx with 1.5 mg/cm2 PtB, 3.0 mg/cm2 IrRuOx, and 3.0 mg/cm2 PtB) were varied. The effects of these parameter changes were then analyzed in terms of the polarization curve, hydrogen flowrate, power consumption, voltaic efficiency, and energy efficiency. The best electrolysis performance was observed at a DI water feed flowrate of 2 mL/min and a cell temperature of 70 °C, using a membrane electrode assembly that has a 3.0 mg/cm2 IrRuOx catalyst at the anode side. This improved performance of the PEM electrolyzer is due to the reduction in activation as well as ohmic losses. Furthermore, the energy consumption was optimal when the current density was about 200 mA/cm2, with voltaic and energy efficiencies of 85% and 67.5%, respectively. This result indicates low electrical energy consumption, which can lower the operating cost and increase the performance of PEM electrolyzers. Therefore, the optimal operating parameters are crucial to ensure the ideal performance and durability of the PEM electrolyzer as well as lower its operating costs.
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Mukundan, Rangachary, Xiaoxiao Qiao, Tanya Agarwal, et al. "(Invited, Digital Presentation) Accelerated Stress Test Development for PEM Water Electrolyzers." ECS Meeting Abstracts MA2022-01, no. 33 (2022): 1342. http://dx.doi.org/10.1149/ma2022-01331342mtgabs.
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The use of clean hydrogen around the world is expected to significantly increase in the coming decades as various countries move towards their carbon neutral goals. The United States has committed significant funds ($9.5 Billion over the next 5 years) to the demonstration of a clean hydrogen infrastructure with electrolysis ($1 Billion in research over the next 5 years) being one of the key enabling technologies. Polymer electrolyte membrane water electrolyzers (PEMWE) for hydrogen production are expected to play a critical role in this transition to a hydrogen economy. The DOE has formed a consortium (H2NEW : Hydrogen from the next generation of electrolyzers of Water) to overcome technical barriers to affordable, reliable and efficient electrolyzer development. The consortium is working on various aspects of PEMWEs to improve their durability, decrease their cost, improve manufacturability and demonstrate economic feasibility. As part of this effort, the consortium is developing accelerated stress tests (ASTs) for PEMWEs. The DOE in collaboration with National Laboratories and the U.S. Drive Fuel Cell Technical team has developed a set of validated and widely accepted ASTs for fuel cells. While these fuel cell ASTs have spurred significant materials development over the past decade, there is no accepted set of ASTs for PEMWEs. This talk will summarize our recent learnings from the development of PEMFC ASTs and how these apply to PEMWEs. While several materials including the cathode catalyst, membrane, and cathode gas diffusion layer are similar between these two systems, there are significant differences in the operating conditions and materials used at the anode of the electrolyzer. The key to successful AST development is to ensure that the stressors accelerating the degradation mechanisms are relevant to the operating conditions encountered in the intended application. An AST working group (ASTWG) that includes various U.S. electrolyzer manufacturers has been established within the consortium to incorporate feedback from commercial electrolyzer systems. Literature reports have demonstrated that both potential cycling1 and transition through Ir/IrOx redox potential2 (during open circuit operation or shutdown of electrolyzer) can be detrimental to the anode catalyst. Membrane degradation occurs under electrolyzer conditions and is accelerated with increasing temperature and low current density operation.3 The effect of electrolyzer operating conditions on both membrane and anode catalyst durability will be discussed in this talk. The various stressors leading to increased degradation of both anode catalysts and membranes will be discussed and potential PEMWE ASTs will be proposed. Acknowledgement This research is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office, through the H2NEW consortium. References M. Alia, S. Stariha, and R. L. Borup, J. Electrochem. Soc., 166, F1164–F1172 (2019). Weiß, A. Siebel, M. Bernt, T. H. Shen, V. Tileli and H. A. Gasteiger, Journal of The Electrochemical Society, 2019, 166, F487-F497 Marocco, K. Sundseth, T. Aarhaug, A. Lanzini, M. Santarelli, A. O. Barnett and M. Thomassen, Journal of Power Sources, 2021, 483, 229179.
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Mazumder, Gour Chand, SM Nasif Shams, Md Habibur Rahman, and Saiful Huque. "Development and Performance Analysis of a Low-Cost Hydrogen Generation System Using Locally Available Materials." Dhaka University Journal of Science 68, no. 1 (2020): 49–56. http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/dujs.v68i1.54597.
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In this paper, a low-cost water electrolyzer is developed and its performance study is presented. Locally found materials are used to develop the electrolyzer. The electrolyzer has two cells connected in parallel and bipolar electrode configuration. In common, different cells are connected in series but for this electrolyzer parallel connection has been tested. A very thin polymer, Nylon-140 has been used as separator membranes for this electrolyzer. In separator membrane assembly, the designed geometry creates two separate gas channels internally which enables the direct collection of hydrogen and oxygen gas from the designated outlet port of the electrolyzer. The geometry excludes the need of external tubing into each cell-compartments to collect hydrogen and oxygen separately. The developed electrolyzer is found to be 42% efficient with its highest production rate of 227.27 mL/min. The purity of hydrogen is found to be more than 92% and justified with the burn test. The cost is 20 times less than the commercial electrolyzers. The development method and scheme can be helpful to popularize the small scale use of hydrogen in Bangladesh for various renewable energy applications.
 Dhaka Univ. J. Sci. 68(1): 49-56, 2020 (January)
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Osmieri, Luigi, Haoran Yu, Deborah J. Myers, David A. Cullen, and Piotr Zelenay. "(Keynote) Aerogel-Derived Nickel-Iron Oxide Catalysts for Oxygen Evolution Reaction in Alkaline Media." ECS Meeting Abstracts MA2023-01, no. 49 (2023): 2554. http://dx.doi.org/10.1149/ma2023-01492554mtgabs.
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Low-temperature alkaline water electrolyzers, both liquid alkaline and—more recently—anion exchange membrane (AEM) ones, represent an attractive path towards large-scale generation of green hydrogen, possibly without relying on precious metals, otherwise required by the competing proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzer technology. Of the two alkaline systems, the AEM electrolyzer offers an additional benefit of not needing highly concentrated alkaline solutions and, upon further development, possibly not requiring any electrolyte at all. The ultimate success of the AEM technology will depend though on progress in the development of several key materials: alkaline exchange membranes, electrode ionomers, and platinum group metal-free (PGM-free) electrocatalysts for the anode and the cathode. It will also depend on successful integration of the developed materials into a complete device, aiming especially at well-performing catalyst/membrane and catalyst/ionomer interfaces that are free of significant charge and mass transport losses. The focus of this work has been on NiFe oxide electrocatalysts for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) for alkaline media in low temperature electrolyzers. The catalysts have been derived from aerogels heat-treated at different temperatures. Depending on the synthesis temperature the catalysts have shown dissimilar OER activities and morphologies, required different activation procedures and incurred diverse structural changes during testing. In addition to extensive performance evaluation in a three-electrode electrochemical cell and a small electrolyzer, the catalysts have undergone wide-ranging physicochemical characterization with the purpose of identifying causes of the differences in their activity and performance durability. Characterization involved among others high-resolution scanning microscopic techniques and electron and X-ray spectroscopy methods (e.g., EELS, XPS, EXAFS/XANES). Of special interest in this research has been the development and optimization of catalyst activation approaches, both in-situ (in an operating cell) and ex-situ. The effect of ionomer type on catalyst performance and overall performance of NiFe catalysts in electrolyzer-type electrodes has been studied, too, and will be summarized in this presentation. Acknowledgement This work has been performed as part of catalyst development efforts in Electrocatalysis Consortium (ElectroCat), funded by U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) via Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office (HFTO).
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Scheepers, Fabian, Markus Stähler, Andrea Stähler, et al. "Improving the Efficiency of PEM Electrolyzers through Membrane-Specific Pressure Optimization." Energies 13, no. 3 (2020): 612. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/en13030612.
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Hydrogen produced in a polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) electrolyzer must be stored under high pressure. It is discussed whether the gas should be compressed in subsequent gas compressors or by the electrolyzer. While gas compressor stages can be reduced in the case of electrochemical compression, safety problems arise for thin membranes due to the undesired permeation of hydrogen across the membrane to the oxygen side, forming an explosive gas. In this study, a PEM system is modeled to evaluate the membrane-specific total system efficiency. The optimum efficiency is given depending on the external heat requirement, permeation, cell pressure, current density, and membrane thickness. It shows that the heat requirement and hydrogen permeation dominate the maximum efficiency below 1.6 V, while, above, the cell polarization is decisive. In addition, a pressure-optimized cell operation is introduced by which the optimum cathode pressure is set as a function of current density and membrane thickness. This approach indicates that thin membranes do not provide increased safety issues compared to thick membranes. However, operating an N212-based system instead of an N117-based one can generate twice the amount of hydrogen at the same system efficiency while only one compressor stage must be added.
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Esposito, Daniel V., Kyungmin Yim, Daniela V. Fraga Alvarez, et al. "(Invited) Proton Exchange Membrane Electrolyzers Based on Sub-Micron Thick Membranes." ECS Meeting Abstracts MA2023-01, no. 36 (2023): 2028. http://dx.doi.org/10.1149/ma2023-01362028mtgabs.
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Significant decreases in the price of electricity from solar photovoltaics and wind are enabling concurrent decreases in the cost of clean hydrogen production by water electrolysis. However, to meet the US Department of Energy’s Hydrogen Shot Initiative target for levelized cost of hydrogen production of < $1 per kg of hydrogen by the year 2030,[1] it will also be necessary to drive down the capital costs of water electrolyzers. Reducing capital costs is especially important for scenarios where close to 100% of the electricity is provided by variable renewable energy generators, which greatly limits the capacity factor of the electrolyzer.[2] Towards this end, our team is exploring a proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzer architecture based on ultrathin (< 1 micron) membranes. Modeling is used to show that defect-free membranes possessing appropriate proton and hydrogen transport properties present opportunities to decrease membrane resistances < 80% relative to conventional Nafion membranes, which can subsequently allow for operation at > 4 A cm-2 while maintaining the same efficiencies achieved by today’s commercialized PEM electrolyzers operated at < 2 A cm-2. Additionally, this talk will describe modeling and experimental efforts that address the viability of using sub-micron thick membranes that can operate with H2 crossover rates < 1%. References [1] US DOE Hydrogen Shot Initiative: https://www.energy.gov/eere/fuelcells/hydrogen-shot [2] D.V. Esposito, Joule, 1, 1-8, 2017.
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Berning, Torsten. "Design of a Proton Exchange Membrane Electrolyzer." Hydrogen 6, no. 2 (2025): 30. https://doi.org/10.3390/hydrogen6020030.
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A novel design of a proton exchange membrane electrolyzer is presented. In contrast to previous designs, the flow field plates are round and oriented horizontally with the feed water entering from a central hole and spreading evenly outward over the anode flow field in radial, interdigitated flow channels. The cathode flow field consists of a spiral channel with an outlet hole near the outside of the bipolar plate. This results in anode and cathode flow channels that run perpendicular to avoid shear stresses. The novel sealing concept requires only o-rings, which press against the electrolyte membrane and are countered by circular gaskets that are placed over the flow channels to prevent the membrane from penetrating the channels, which makes for a much more economical sealing concept compared to prior designs using custom-made gaskets. Hydrogen leaves the electrolyzer through a vertical outward pipe placed off-center on top of the electrolyzer. The electrolyzer stack is housed in a cylinder to capture the oxygen and water vapor, which is then guided into a heat exchanger section, located underneath the electrolyzer partition. The function of the heat exchanger is to preheat the incoming fresh water and condense the escape water, thus improving the efficiency. It also serves as internal phase separator in that a level sensor controls the water level and triggers a recirculation pump for the condensate, while the oxygen outlet is located above the water level and can be connected to a vacuum pump to allow for electrolyzer operation at sub-ambient pressure to further increase efficiency and/or reduce the iridium loading.
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Chang, Shing-Cheng, Ru-En Gu, and Yen-Hsin Chan. "Parameter Analysis of Anion Exchange Membrane Water Electrolysis System by Numerical Simulation." Energies 17, no. 22 (2024): 5682. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/en17225682.
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Anion exchange membrane electrolysis, which combines the advantages of both alkaline electrolysis and proton-exchange membrane electrolysis, is a promising technology to reduce the cost of hydrogen production. The present work focused on the study of the electrochemical phenomena of AEM electrolysis and the investigation of the key factors of the AEM hydrogen production system. The numerical model is established according to electrochemical reactions, polarization phenomena, and the power consumption of the balance of plant components of the system. The effects of operation parameters, including the temperature and hydrogen pressure of the electrolyzer, electrolyte concentration, and hydrogen supply pressure on the energy efficiency are studied. The basic electrochemical phenomena of AEM water electrolysis cells are analyzed by simulations of reversible potential and activation, and ohmic and concentration polarizations. The results reveal that increasing the operating temperature and hydrogen production pressure of the AEM electrolyzer has positive effects on the system’s efficiency. By conducting an optimization analysis of the electrolyzer temperature—which uses the heat energy generated by the electrochemical reaction of the electrolyzer to minimize the power consumption of the electrolyte pump and heater—the AEM system with an electrolyzer operating at 328 K and 30 bar can deliver hydrogen of pressure up to 200 bar under an energy efficiency of 56.4%.
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Rahmadina, Nisa, Yohandri Bow, and Syahirman Yusi. "The Comparison of Hydrogen Purity on Brown’s Gas Using Dry Cell Electrolyzer with/without Polyvinyl Alcohol (PVA) Separator Membrane." International Journal of Research in Vocational Studies (IJRVOCAS) 3, no. 2 (2023): 34–39. http://dx.doi.org/10.53893/ijrvocas.v3i2.205.
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Global environmental issues that demand good air quality have encouraged various energy sources to develop environmentally friendly energy. Brown’s Gas is produced by using an electrolysis system to separate water into Hydrogen (H2) and Oxygen (O2) gas. The dry cell is an electrolyzer that is widely used for both small and large-scale hydrogen production systems. A dry cell electrolyzer was designed with 12 stages of 316 stainless steel with Polyvinyl Alcohol as a polymer membrane to prevent mixing H2 and O2 to get a high percentage of hydrogen purity. This study compares hydrogen purity on Brown’s gas using a dry cell electrolyzer with PVA with/without a PVA separator membrane. The result shows that the PVA membrane significantly impacted hydrogen purity. The hydrogen purity on Brown’s gas without PVA membrane for KOH, NaOH, KCl, and Seawater was 58.37%, 56.42 %, 50.16%, and 55.22 %. Compared to using the membrane was 78.32%, 77.80%, 63.16%, and 74.0 %, with the highest hydrogen obtained was KOH electrolyte.
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Osmieri, Luigi, Yanghua He, Haoran Yu, David A. Cullen, and Piotr Zelenay. "PGM-Free Catalysts and Electrodes for Anion Exchange Membrane Water Electrolyzers." ECS Meeting Abstracts MA2022-02, no. 44 (2022): 1674. http://dx.doi.org/10.1149/ma2022-02441674mtgabs.
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Recent progress in the development of anion exchange membranes (AEMs) with improved performance and durability has opened the way for the application of the AEM-based electrolyzers in low-temperature water electrolysis (LTWE),1 an important technology for producing “green” hydrogen.2 AEM-LTWEs can potentially operate on pure water, i.e., without highly concentrated and corrosive supporting electrolyte, and they allow for replacement of electrocatalysts based on platinum group metals (PGMs) with PGM-free ones, thus addressing the main drawbacks of the liquid-alkaline (LA) and proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzers.3 Consequently, the development of PGM-free electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in alkaline media is of primary importance for the deployment of AEM-LTWEs that has attracted significant attention of researchers.4–6 Besides improving the catalytic activity, the integration of PGM-free HER and OER electrocatalysts into electrodes for operation in AEM electrolyzers is crucial to achieving satisfactory electrolyzer performance and making them competitive with the LA and PEM systems.7,8 In this work, we measured electrocatalytic activity of a series of OER and HER catalysts in a three-electrode cell and then implemented these catalysts in electrodes for testing in an AEM electrolyzer. We investigated different classes of OER catalysts, including commercial IrO2 (a PGM ORR benchmark), LaxSr1-xCoO3-δ oxides, Ni-Fe nanofoam oxides, Ni-Fe aerogel-derived oxides, and MOF-derived Co oxides. In the HER-catalyst part of the study, we compared a commercial PtRu/C (a PGM HER benchmark) with an aerogel NiMo/C catalyst. Catalysts and electrodes before and after testing were characterized by XRD, SEM, EDS, and XPS. In addition to exploring different catalysts, we investigated the impact of several fabrication variables such as the ink deposition method, amount of ionomer, incorporation of a binding agent, and the type of anode porous transport layer on performance. The tests were carried in an electrolyzer operating with pure water and two electrolyte solutions, 0.1 M KOH and 1% K2CO3. The results show that, in addition to the OER and HER electrocatalytic activity, the electrode fabrication is an important factor affecting AEM electrolyzer performance, especially in the pure-water operation mode, in which case assuring an effective transport of the OH– ions within the catalyst layer is especially challenging. References Y. S. Kim, ACS Appl. Polym. Mater. (2021). C. Santoro et al., ChemSusChem, 202200027 (2022). H. A. Miller et al., Sustain. Energy Fuels, 4, 2114–2133 (2020). D. Xu et al., ACS Catal., 9, 7–15 (2019). H. Shi et al., Adv. Funct. Mater., 2102285, 1–10 (2021). H. Doan et al., J. Electrochem. Soc., 168, 084501 (2021). N. U. Hassan, M. Mandal, B. Zulevi, P. A. Kohl, and W. E. Mustain, Electrochim. Acta, 409, 140001 (2022). G. A. Lindquist et al., ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces (2021).
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Tugirumubano, Alexandre, Hee Jae Shin, Lee Ku Kwac, and Hong Gun Kim. "Numerical Simulation of the Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Electrolyzer." IOSR Journal of Mechanical and Civil Engineering 13, no. 05 (2016): 94–97. http://dx.doi.org/10.9790/1684-1305069497.
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Tugirumubano, Alexandre, Kyoung Soo Kim, Hee Jae Shin, Chang Hyeon Kim, Lee Ku Kwac, and Hong Gun Kim. "The Design and Performance Study of Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Using 3-D Mesh." Key Engineering Materials 737 (June 2017): 393–97. http://dx.doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/kem.737.393.
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The production of hydrogen and oxygen using the water electrolysis technology is mostly influenced by the performance and efficiency of the components that are used in the production systems. In this study, the flow field’s channels of the bipolar plates of polymer electrolyte membrane electrolyzer were replaced by 3-D titanium mesh, and the polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) electrolyzer cell that uses 3-D titanium mesh was designed. A numerical analysis was conducted to study the performance of the designed model. By comparing the results with the electrochemical performance of PEM electrolyzer cell with flow field channels on the plates, it was found that the cell with 3-D titanium mesh has greater performance and higher total power dissipation density. Therefore, the use of 3-D mesh can be used instead of machining the flow field channels on the bipolar plates.
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Yodwong, Burin, Damien Guilbert, Matheepot Phattanasak, Wattana Kaewmanee, Melika Hinaje, and Gianpaolo Vitale. "Faraday’s Efficiency Modeling of a Proton Exchange Membrane Electrolyzer Based on Experimental Data." Energies 13, no. 18 (2020): 4792. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/en13184792.
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In electrolyzers, Faraday’s efficiency is a relevant parameter to assess the amount of hydrogen generated according to the input energy and energy efficiency. Faraday’s efficiency expresses the faradaic losses due to the gas crossover current. The thickness of the membrane and operating conditions (i.e., temperature, gas pressure) may affect the Faraday’s efficiency. The developed models in the literature are mainly focused on alkaline electrolyzers and based on the current and temperature change. However, the modeling of the effect of gas pressure on Faraday’s efficiency remains a major concern. In proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzers, the thickness of the used membranes is very thin, enabling decreasing ohmic losses and the membrane to operate at high pressure because of its high mechanical resistance. Nowadays, high-pressure hydrogen production is mandatory to make its storage easier and to avoid the use of an external compressor. However, when increasing the hydrogen pressure, the hydrogen crossover currents rise, particularly at low current densities. Therefore, faradaic losses due to the hydrogen crossover increase. In this article, experiments are performed on a commercial PEM electrolyzer to investigate Faraday’s efficiency based on the current and hydrogen pressure change. The obtained results have allowed modeling the effects of Faraday’s efficiency by a simple empirical model valid for the studied PEM electrolyzer stack. The comparison between the experiments and the model shows very good accuracy in replicating Faraday’s efficiency.
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Janaky, Csaba. "(Invited) Effects of the Local Chemical Environment on the Anode and Cathode Processes of CO2 Electrolyzers." ECS Meeting Abstracts MA2022-01, no. 56 (2022): 2339. http://dx.doi.org/10.1149/ma2022-01562339mtgabs.
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Continuous-flow electrolyzers allow CO2 reduction at industrially relevant rates, but long-term operation is still challenging. In this talk, I am going to present some interesting findings on the role of different ions, crossing the anion exchange membrane in zero-gap electrolyzer cells, contributing to unstable operation. In the first part of my talk, I will show that while precipitate formation in the cathode gas diffusion electrode is detrimental for the long-term stability, the presence of alkali metal cations at the cathode improves performance. To overcome this contradiction, we develop an operando activation and regeneration process, where the cathode of a zero-gap electrolyzer cell is periodically infused with alkali cation-containing solutions. [1] This enables deionized water-fed electrolyzers to operate at a CO2 reduction rate matching that of those using alkaline electrolytes (CO partial current density of 420 ± 50 mA cm−2 for over 200 hours). We deconvolute the complex effects of activation and validate the concept with five different electrolytes and three different commercial membranes. Finally, we demonstrate the scalability of this approach on a multi-cell electrolyzer stack, with a 100 cm2 / cell active area. In the second part of the presentation, I will discuss the role of anode catalyst in CO2R cells. The urge to substitute Ir is driven by its high- and steeply rising market price as well as its limited stability in alkaline media. Although Ni is a ~ten thousand times cheaper, active, and stable oxygen evolution reaction (OER) catalyst in alkaline media, I will demonstrate that there are factors, which hinder its application in CO2 electrolysis. While Ni is a suitable OER catalyst in short experiments, the cell voltage increases, and the measured total Faradaic efficiency decreases continuously during prolonged electrolysis. This is caused by the local acidic pH at the anode surface, the crossing CO3 2- ions and by the gradual change in the anolyte composition, leading to Ni dissolution. The catalyst loss is only a minor part of the problem; the dissolving metal ions also penetrate into the anion exchange membrane, where precipitate forms due to the high local carbonate ion concentration, inducing cell failure. Finally, I will present a complex machine learning based approach, through which we aim to find the optimal operating conditions of such CO2 electrolyzer cells.
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Boettcher, Shannon W. "(Invited) Catalyst and Anode Design for Durable Alkaline-Membrane Electrolysis." ECS Meeting Abstracts MA2024-01, no. 34 (2024): 1715. http://dx.doi.org/10.1149/ma2024-01341715mtgabs.
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Commercialized membrane electrolyzers use acidic proton exchange membranes (PEMs). These systems offer high performance but require the use of expensive precious-metal catalysts such as IrO2 and Pt that are nominally stable under locally acidic conditions. Alkaline-exchange-membrane (AEM) electrolyzers in principle offer the performance of PEM electrolyzers with the ability to use earth-abundant catalysts and inexpensive bipolar plate materials. I will highlight our fundamental work in understanding the chemical and electrochemical processes in earth-abundant water-oxidation catalysts over the past decade and we are using that understanding to drive progress in high-performance AEM electrolyzers. Baseline systems operate at 1 A·cm-2 in pure water feed at < 1.9 V at a moderate temperature of ~70 °C using either IrO2 or Co3O4 anode catalyst layers, PiperION alkaline ionomers, and stainless-steel porous transport layers. These devices, however, degrade rapidly compared to PEM electrolyzers which we link to chemical and structural changes in the ionomer-catalyst reactive zone using a combination of integrated reference-electrode device architectures, impedance, and cross-sectional and post-mortem materials analysis. We further discover that dynamic Fe-based OER catalysts – that have world-record performance in traditional liquid alkaline electrolyzer systems – perform poorly with enhanced degradation rates in alkaline membrane electrolysis, illustrating fundamentally different chemical design principles for OER catalysts. Given this baseline understanding, I will end with new chemical strategies we have developed to mitigate degradation and enhance performance using novel ionomers, passivated electrolyte-catalyst interfacial architectures, and specifically designed multicomponent anode oxygen catalysts to target stable performance without supporting soluble electrolyte: <10 μV/h degradation at currents > 2 A cm-2 and cell voltages < 2V.
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Dass, Sasha, Christopher Barber, Kate Fischl, et al. "In-Situ Electrolyzer Monitoring Using Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS)." ECS Meeting Abstracts MA2023-01, no. 36 (2023): 1975. http://dx.doi.org/10.1149/ma2023-01361975mtgabs.
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The development of technologies that improve the efficiency and reliability of green hydrogen production and distribution systems is key to lowering the cost and spurring widespread adoption of hydrogen. Electrolyzer reliability is affected by factors such as degradation of catalytic materials and development of anomalies in the membrane electrode assembly, which can in turn lead to hazardous mixing of Hydrogen and Oxygen. Most methods to lower the manufacturing cost further negatively affect the reliability. The effect of such degradation can be alleviated with improved cell monitoring technology [i]—for instance, the ability to predict failures in advance enables predictive maintenance to improve system utilization and minimize impact to the amount of hydrogen produced. Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) is a widely used tool in lab settings to understand the properties of electrochemical cells. However, due to a combination of cost and technological barriers, scaling EIS technology to in-situ, in-operando monitoring of megawatt scale electrolyzer stacks has proven challenging. In this talk, Analog Devices presents Andromeda (Fig. 1) – a system that can monitor small electrolyzer stacks (up to 4 cells, 100cm2 at current densities up to 3A/cm2) in-situ. In a lab environment, Andromeda enables the use of EIS during long degradation studies with arbitrary power supplies without interrupting the study. We will show that, with appropriate modifications to the hardware, the architecture of the Andromeda system can be scaled to monitor Megawatt-scale electrolyzer stacks. We will additionally show data gathered on small cells that indicates that EIS can be a good indicator of failure mechanisms in an electrolytic cell [ii, iii], which further indicates that in-situ monitoring using EIS can be a powerful tool to monitor electrolyzer state-of-health. As an example, Figure 2 shows that corresponding I/V curves show no discernible difference between a baseline cell and cells with pinholes, indicating that small pinholes, which can be safety hazards, can be challenging to detect during operation. Examination of EIS data (Figure 3a), on the other hand, reveals a widening and depression of the semicircle in the curve from the cell with the pinhole. Detectability has also been demonstrated for defects such as catalyst degradation, membrane poisoning, and drifts in mass transport properties within the cell, proving that an in-situ monitoring system, when combined with modeling and AI, has the potential to give asset owners visibility into their operations that will improve utilization, decrease cost and enable safer production of hydrogen at scale. Future work on the integration of semiconductor technology into hydrogen equipment has focused on bypassing failing cells in the stack [iv] (Figure 4) and designing power systems that enable electrolyzers to exploit existing economies of scale. References: “EIS MONITORING SYSTEMS FOR ELECTROLYZERS “, Patent pending: US 63/150,308 Siracusano, Stefania et al. “Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy as a Diagnostic Tool in Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Electrolysis.” Materials (Basel, Switzerland) vol. 11,8 1368. 7 Aug. 2018 Rakousky, et al. “An analysis of degradation phenomena in polymer electrolyte membrane water electrolysis”, Journal of Power Sources, vol. 326, 2016, Pages 120-121 ELECTRICALLY PARALLEL ELECTROLYZERS AND ELECTROLYZERS WITH BYPASSABLE CELLS FOR THE PRODUCTION OF HYDROGEN, Patent pending: US 17/336,929 Figure 1
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Hernández-Gómez, Ángel, Victor Ramirez, Damien Guilbert, and Belem Saldivar. "Self-Discharge of a Proton Exchange Membrane Electrolyzer: Investigation for Modeling Purposes." Membranes 11, no. 6 (2021): 379. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/membranes11060379.
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The self-discharge phenomenon results in a decrease of the open-circuit voltage (OCV), which occurs when an electrochemical device is disconnected from the power source. Although the self-discharge phenomenon has widely been investigated for energy storage devices such as batteries and supercapacitors, no previous works have been reported in the literature about this phenomenon for electrolyzers. For this reason, this work is mainly focused on investigating the self-discharge voltage that occurs in a proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzer. To investigate this voltage drop for modeling purposes, experiments have been performed on a commercial PEM electrolyzer to analyze the decrease in the OCV. One model was developed based on different tests carried out on a commercial-400 W PEM electrolyzer for the self-discharge voltage. The proposed model has been compared with the experimental data to assess its effectiveness in modeling the self-discharge phenomenon. Thus, by taking into account this voltage drop in the modeling, simulations with a higher degree of reliability were obtained when predicting the behavior of PEM electrolyzers.
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Choi, Baeck B., Jae Hyeon Jo, Taehee Lee, Sang-Yun Jeon, Jungsuk Kim, and Young-Sung Yoo. "Operational Characteristics of High-Performance kW class Alkaline Electrolyzer Stack for Green Hydrogen Production." Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology 12, no. 3 (2021): 302–7. http://dx.doi.org/10.33961/jecst.2021.00031.
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Polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) electrolyzer or alkaline electrolyzer is required to produce green hydrogen using renewable energy such as wind and/or solar power. PEM and alkaline electrolyzer differ in many ways, instantly basic materials, system configuration, and operation characteristics are different. Building an optimal water hydrolysis system by closely grasping the characteristics of each type of electrolyzer is of great help in building a safe hydrogen ecosystem as well as the efficiency of green hydrogen production. In this study, the basic operation characteristics of a kW class alkaline water electrolyzer we developed, and water electrolysis efficiency are described. Finally, a brief overview of the characteristics of PEM and alkaline electrolyzer for large-capacity green hydrogen production system will be outlined.
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Gado, Alanna M., Deniz Ipekçi, Stoyan Bliznakov, Leonard J. Bonville, Jeffrey McCutcheon, and Radenka Maric. "Investigation of the Performance and Durability of Reactive Spray Deposition Fabricated Electrodes on a Bifunctional Membrane for Alkaline Water Electrolysis and CO2 Reduction Reaction." ECS Meeting Abstracts MA2023-01, no. 38 (2023): 2250. http://dx.doi.org/10.1149/ma2023-01382250mtgabs.
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Alkaline water electrolysis (AWE) is a promising technology for carbon capture [1]. Anion exchange membrane water electrolyzers (AEMWEs) utilize low-cost, non-precious metal materials, providing an economically viable alternative to more expensive proton exchange membrane water electrolyzers (PEMWEs). While PEMWEs can operate at much higher current densities, they require noble metal catalysts and titanium components for the high potential environment anode [1]. The implementation of a bipolar membrane (BPM) will allow both HER and OER to occur under kinetically favorable conditions [2, 3] by combining both thin AEM and thin PEM layers within a single membrane. AEMs, PEMs, and BPMs have been tested in CO2RR electrolyzers [4]. The BPM may provide a pathway to combine the advantages of both AEMs and PEMs for CO2 reduction. Altering both the membrane and CCM is a focus in the research and development in CO2RR electrolyzers. Lee et al. [5] explored the use of a porous membrane for CO2 reduction. While work can be done to improve performance and crossover, the porous membrane provided excellent mechanical properties and good economic potential. There has been some work done on developing bifunctional membranes for water electrolysis and CO2 reduction [3, 6, 7]. Two key issues with operation of a CO2RR electrolyzer with a BPM is the reactant CO2 that is lost to the AEM and PEM membrane layer interface and the instability of the cell. Both issues contribute to a significant decrease in performance and faradaic efficiency in product conversion. Development of the BPM, both on the membrane’s fabrication and configuration, and electrode layers, needs to be explored to reach higher performances and longer lifespans. In this work, reactive spray deposition technology (RSDT) was used to fabricate electrodes on a UConn fabricated bipolar membrane. Testing of each configuration was conducted as both an AEM water electrolyzer and CO2RR electrolyzer. Polarization, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, electrochemical equivalent circuits, and distribution of relaxation times were used to investigate cell performance and durability. References [1] B. Mayerhofer, D. McLaughlin, T. Bohm, M. Hegelheimer, D. Seeberger, and S. Thiele, “Bipolar membrane electrode assemblies for water electrolysis,” ACS applied energy materials, vol. 3, no. 10, pp. 9635–9644, 2020. [2] J. Xu, I. Amorim, Y. Li, J. Li, Z. Yu, B. Zhang, A. Araujo, N. Zhang, and L. Liu, “Stable overall water splitting in an asymmetric acid/alkaline electrolyzer comprising a bipolar membrane sandwiched by bifunctional cobalt-nickel phosphide nanowire electrodes,” Carbon Energy, vol. 2, no. 4, pp. 646–655, 2020. [3] Q. Lei, B. Wang, P. Wang, and S. Liu, “Hydrogen generation with acid/alkaline amphoteric water electrolysis,” Journal of Energy Chemistry, vol. 38, pp. 162–169, 2019. [13] W. H. Lee, K. Kim, C. Lim, Y. J. Ko, Y. J. Hwang, B. K. Min, U. Lee, and H. S. Oh, “New strategies for economically feasible CO2 electroreduction using a porous membrane in zero-gap configuration,” Journal of Materials Chemistry A, vol. 9, pp. 16169–16177, 8 2021 [4] D. A. Salvatore, C. M. Gabardo, A. Reyes, C. P. O’Brien, S. Holdcroft, P. Pintauro, B. Bahar, M. Hickner, C. Bae, D. Sinton, E. H. Sargent, and C. P. Berlinguette, “Designing anion exchange membranes forCO2 electrolysers,” Nature Energy, vol. 6, pp. 339–348, 4 202 [5] W. H. Lee, K. Kim, C. Lim, Y. J. Ko, Y. J. Hwang, B. K. Min, U. Lee, and H. S. Oh, “New strategies for economically feasible CO2 electroreduction using a porous membrane in zero-gap configuration,” Journal of Materials Chemistry A, vol. 9, pp. 16169–16177, 8 2021 [6] W. Li, Z. Yin, Z. Gao, G. Wang, Z. Li, F. Wei, X. Wei, H. Peng, X. Hu, L. Xiao, J. Lu, and L. Zhuang, “Bifunctional ionomers for efficient CO electrolysis of CO2 and pure water towards ethylene production at industrialscale current densities,” Nature Energy, 2022 [7] C. P. O’Brien, R. K. Miao, S. Liu, Y. Xu, G. Lee, A. Robb, J. E. Huang, K. Xie, K. Bertens, C. M. Gabardo, et al., “Single pass CO2 conversion exceeding 85% in the electrosynthesis of multicarbon products via local CO2 regeneration,” ACS Energy Letters, vol. 6, no. 8, pp. 2952–2959, 2021.
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Motupally, Shikhar, Lubhani Mishra, and Venkat R. Subramanian. "(Digital Presentation) Modeling Water Transport in Proton Exchange Membrane Electrolyzers through First Principles." ECS Meeting Abstracts MA2023-02, no. 42 (2023): 2158. http://dx.doi.org/10.1149/ma2023-02422158mtgabs.
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The efforts to decarbonize transportation and heavy industries, like agricultural chemicals, steel, etc., have increased over the past decade [1-2]. A practical solution to these efforts is using renewable energy (wind, solar, hydro) to produce hydrogen to replace fossil fuels in these energy-intensive applications [1]. The production of hydrogen via water electrolysis has been receiving tremendous attention over the past few years [1-3]. There are mainly three technologies that are employed for water electrolysis – alkaline, polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM), and solid oxide [3]. Intermittent renewable energy provides an advantage to PEM electrolysis due to the robustness of the technology capable of multiple start-stops and variation in applied power [4]. PEM electrolyzer technology is improving and becoming market-ready in several countries [3]. The current focus on PEM electrolyzers ranges from improving lifetimes and electrical efficiency, reducing cost by the development of advanced materials/designs, and simplifying the balance of plant/systems designs [1]. The mathematical modeling of PEM electrolyzers is thus an active area of research for substantially reducing development costs and timelines and improving electrolyzer designs [3-4]. However, there are certain phenomena with PEM electrolysis where the current models are semi-empirical and simple first principles-based mechanistic quantifications are lacking. Figure 1 shows a simplified schematic of the physical and chemical phenomena during the operation of a PEM electrolyzer. The anode and cathode are divided by a membrane that is capable of exchanging cations across. The membrane is coated with catalyst layers on both sides to facilitate the reactions. Typical membranes used in electrolyzers belong to the Nafion® family and are perfluorosulfonic acid-based materials [3-7]. Porous transport layers are used to facilitate the interaction between gas and liquid phases in the cell. Water is fed to the anode side of the electrolyzer and is oxidized to produce oxygen gas. Typically, no water is fed to the cathode, since the anode is maintained at a high pressure (~3-70 bar), liquid water condenses and exits the electrolyzer with the hydrogen. The hydrogen gas is fed through a dryer before it is deemed suitable for use. The oxygen gas is also dried and used where needed. In this work, we present a first principles-based water transport model to quantify the movement of water across the electrolyzer cell and predict the quality of the hydrogen gas produced as a function of varying operating conditions and cell designs [4,8,9]. To model the movement of water on the cathode side, three sets of equations are obtained – I. material balances for hydrogen and water in the flow channel (z-direction), II. water movement across the membrane in the x-direction, and III. expressions for variable membrane properties to serve as inputs for I and II [4,5,6,8]. For water movement across the membrane, we consider the contributions from diffusion, electro-osmotic drag, and pressure-driven flow. The condensation of water at the cathode is also modeled to understand the respective transport contributions from the vapor and liquid phases. The coupled equation sets are solved using a Runge-Kutta ODE routine with appropriate boundary conditions. The results of the modeling case studies will be compared with the experimental data available for water transport [9]. References Satyapal, H2@Scale R&D Consortium Kickoff Meeting H2@Scale Overview Chicago, IL – August 1, 2018. Pivovar, 2019 DOE Hydrogen and Fuel Cells Program Review, April 30, 2019. S. Kumar and V. Himabindu, Material Science and Energy Technologies, 2, 442, (2019) Ma et al., International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 46, 17627, (2021). E. Springer et al., Journal of the Electrochemical Society, 138, 2334, (1991). M. Bernardi and M. W. Verbrugge, AIChE Journal, 37, 1151, (1990). A. Zawodzinski et al., Journal of the Electrochemical. Society, 140, 1981, (1993). Marangio et al. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 34, 1143, (2009). Medina and M. Santarelli, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 35, 5173, (2010). Figure 1
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Mustapha, Feriel, Damien Guilbert, and Mohammed El-Ganaoui. "Investigation of Electrical and Thermal Performance of a Commercial PEM Electrolyzer under Dynamic Solicitations." Clean Technologies 4, no. 4 (2022): 931–41. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/cleantechnol4040057.
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Hydrogen generation through electrolyzers has gained a growing interest from researchers and industries to decarbonize transportation and electricity production. The performance of electrolyzers is strongly dependent on their operating conditions, such as the supply current, temperature, and pressure. To meet near-zero emissions, the electrolyzer must be supplied by low-carbon energy sources. Therefore, renewable energy sources must be considered. However, these sources are strongly linked with the weather conditions, so they have a high dynamic behavior. Therefore, this article is focused on the investigation of the effects of these dynamic solicitations on the electrical and thermal performance of electrolyzers. In this study, a proton exchange membrane (PEM) has been chosen to carry out this investigation. Experimental tests have been performed, emphasizing the relationship between the electrical and thermal performance of the PEM electrolyzer. The purpose of this work is to provide an optimal scenario of the operation of the electrolyzer under dynamic solicitations and consequently, to decrease the degradation of the electrolyzer.
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Gour Chand Mazumder, Md. Shahariar Parvez, Md. Saniat Rahman Zishan, and Md. Habibur Rahman. "Quantitative Analysis of Green H2 Production Costs: A Comparison between Domestic Developed and Imported Electrolyzers." Emerging Science Innovation 3 (May 3, 2024): 12–26. http://dx.doi.org/10.46604/emsi.2024.13240.
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This study aims to present a quantitative cost analysis of hydrogen utilizing a developed alkaline electrolyzer, a similar-capacity imported alkaline electrolyzer, and a similar-capacity PEM electrolyzer.The research also finds the key parameters that can reduce or increase the production cost. One of the subjected electrolyzers is a locally developed Alkaline Electrolyzer (AE); the other two are similar-capacity imported AE and Polymer Electrolytic Membrane (PEM) electrolyzers. The study uses the Hybrid Optimization of Multiple Energy Resources (HOMER) software for estimating the Levelized Cost of Electricity (LCOE) and the Life Cycle Cost (LCC) method for hydrogen production cost estimation. Results show that the imported electrolyzers have higher production costs due to import duty, fees, and taxes. The estimated cost is 88.4% (AE) and 110.3% (PEM), higher than the locally developed electrolyzer. The economic changes also significantly impact production costs. Government policies can reduce the cost by rescheduling the hydrogen components taxes.
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Tricker, Andrew, Tugrul Ertugrul, Jason Keonhag Lee, et al. "(Invited) Pathways Toward Efficient and Durable AEM Water Electrolyzers." ECS Meeting Abstracts MA2024-02, no. 45 (2024): 3152. https://doi.org/10.1149/ma2024-02453152mtgabs.
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Green hydrogen will play a key role in decarbonization efforts, especially for heavy industries.[1] Durable, efficient, and low-cost electrolyzers are critical to realize economical and green hydrogen production. Anion exchange membrane water electrolyzer (AEMWE) is an emerging technology that combines the benefits of low components cost of conventional alkaline electrolyzers and the high efficiency of proton-exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzers.[2] Although promising, a significant hurdle to commercial deployment of AEMWEs is the durability under industrially relevant conditions. Here, we demonstrate how porous transport layers comprised of natively active materials (PTL electrodes) can be used to achieve efficient and durable AEMWEs.[3] Specifically, stainless-steel fiber PTLs were used as anodes, without the addition of a catalyst layer. When comparing the PTL electrode to traditional catalyst layers, electrolyzer cells with several commercial anion-exchange ionomers (AEI) were subjected to current cycling. This accelerated stress testing (AST) of the electrolyzer cells showed that no significant degradation in the PTL electrode, while cell using traditional catalyst layers exhibited a loss in performance and the complete degradation of the ionomer functional group. When assessing the industrial applicability, the active area of the electrolyzer was increased up to 50 cm2, which showed the same performance as the 5 cm2 cell. The durability of the electrolyzer was tested at 2 A cm-2 in 0.1 M KOH for 660 h. During this period, the cell exhibited a degradation rate of 5 µV h-1, which was comparable to typical PEM electrolyzers. The use of experiment and modeling was used to investigate the role of the structure of the PTL in influencing cell performance. The inclusion of a denser layer on the membrane side increased the utilization of the electrode by decreasing the bubble coverage on the fiber surfaces and increasing the effective electrolyte conductivity within the electrode. Finally, we demonstrate a facile etching method to modify the surface of the PTL fibers to increase the active surface area of the anode and achieve a cell current density of 2.3 A cm-2 at 1.8 V. References: [1] D. S. Mallapragada, Y. Dvorkin, M. A. Modestino, D. V Esposito, W. A. Smith, B.-M. Hodge, M. P. Harold, V. M. Donnelly, A. Nuz, C. Bloomquist, Joule 2023, 7, 23–41. [2] L. Wan, Z. Xu, Q. Xu, M. Pang, D. Lin, J. Liu, B. Wang, Energy Environ Sci 2023, 16, 1384–1430. [3] A. W. Tricker, T. Y. Ertugrul, J. K. Lee, J. R. Shin, W. Choi, D. I. Kushner, G. Wang, J. Lang, I. V Zenyuk, A. Z. Weber, X. Peng, Adv Energy Mater 2023, 2303629.
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Abellán, Gonzalo, Vicent Lloret, and Alvaro Seijas Da Silva. "(Invited) Accelerated Three Electrode Cell (TEC) Testing for Optimizing Electrodes in Conventional Alkaline Electrolysis and Anion Exchange Membrane Water Electrolysis." ECS Meeting Abstracts MA2024-01, no. 28 (2024): 1486. http://dx.doi.org/10.1149/ma2024-01281486mtgabs.
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The merging of conventional Alkaline Electrolysis (AEL) and Proton Exchange Membrane Water Electrolysis (PEMWE) has led to the development of Anion Exchange Membrane Water Electrolysis (AEMWE). At this juncture, both AEL and AEMWE technologies offer an advantage over PEMWE as they do not require critical raw components and materials (CRM).[1] While AEMWE has demonstrated higher efficiencies than AEL with thin membranes and low concentrations of KOH, AEL technology addresses the significant stability challenge posed by anionic membranes by employing KOH electrolyte with novel zero-gap configurations, relying on stable diaphragms. Consequently, AEL technology offers a more cost-effective and scalable solution for current large-scale hydrogen production, while AEMWE remains a promising solution that will most probably be implemented on larger scales in the following decade. In any case, both technologies require more efficient and scalable catalysts for lowering the overall cell voltage of electrolyzers. Along this front, Matteco’s patented processes stand at the forefront of manufacturing highly active and stable catalysts and electrodes crafted from Layered Double Hydroxides (LDHs), which have gained increasing attention due to their low overpotentials and promising stabilities.[2] However, Beyond the intrinsic qualities of the catalysts, a myriad of factors —electrolyte concentration, substrate type, and the catalyst/substrate interface— play pivotal roles in determining electrolyzer activity and stability, forming a complex multiparameter matrix that will condition the final performance of the electrolysers. Contrary to three-electrode catalyst testing conditions for PEMWE, in which acids are used to simulate the real conditions of electrolyzers, AEL- and AEMWE-TEC testing can be performed using realistic conditions, from 0.1 to 7M alkaline electrolytes. Thus, this work presents the results of Matteco’s accelerated TEC testing to decipher the complex multiparameter alkaline electrolysis matrix, obtaining the most promising catalysts, substrates, and processes that deliver the best performances and stabilities of AEL and AEMWE technologies. References: [1] N. Du, C. Roy, R. Peach, M. Turnbull, S. Thiele and C. Bock, Chemical Reviews, 122, 11830 (2022). [2] L. Hager, M. Hegelheimer, J. Stonawski, A. T. S. Freiberg, C. Jaramillo-Hernández, G. Abellán, A. Hutzler, T. Böhm, S. Thiele and J. Kerres, Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 11, 22347 (2023).
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Kim, Keon-Han, and Jeonghoon Lim. "Recent Advances in Membrane Electrode Assembly Based Nitrate Reduction Electrolyzers for Sustainable Ammonia Synthesis." Catalysts 15, no. 2 (2025): 172. https://doi.org/10.3390/catal15020172.
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The electrochemical reduction from nitrate (NO3RR) to ammonia (NH3) provides a decentralized and environmentally friendly route for sustainable ammonia production while addressing the urgent issue of nitrate pollution in water bodies. Recent advancements in NO3RR research have improved catalyst designs, mechanistic understanding, and electrolyzer technologies, enhancing selectivity, yield, and energy efficiency. This review explores cutting-edge developments, focusing on innovative designs for catalysts and electrolyzers, such as membrane electrode assemblies (MEA) and electrolyzer configurations, understanding the role of membranes in MEA designs, and various types of hybrid and membrane-free reactors. Furthermore, the integration of NO3RR with anodic oxidation reactions has been demonstrated to improve overall efficiency by generating valuable co-products. However, challenges such as competitive hydrogen evolution, catalyst degradation, and scalability remain critical barriers to large-scale adoption. We provide a comprehensive overview of recent progress, evaluate current limitations, and identify future research directions for realizing the full potential of NO3RR in sustainable nitrogen cycling and ammonia synthesis.
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Metem, Prattakorn, John G. Petrovick, Björn Eriksson, and Göran Lindbergh. "Elucidating Hydroxide Transport through Utilization of Asymmetric Feed System: Advancing Towards Pure Water and Vapor Anion-Exchange-Membrane Electrolysis." ECS Meeting Abstracts MA2024-02, no. 43 (2024): 2939. https://doi.org/10.1149/ma2024-02432939mtgabs.
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Anion-exchange-membrane water electrolysis (AEMWE) is a nascent green hydrogen production technology. Its main advantage lies in its ability to utilize non-platinum group metals (PGMs) as catalysts and PFSA-free polymer as a membrane, unlike proton-exchange-membrane water electrolysis (PEMWE). It is well-known that, unlike PEMWE, AEMWE suffers greatly from substituting the electrolytic feed solution with a solution of a lower pH (e.g., pure water). Literature has attributed the loss of performance to the lower reaction kinetics of both oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and the drastic loss of electrolyte conductivity, which is further exacerbated at higher current density [1]. Notably, it is shown that addition of salt to improve the conductivity of electrolyte does not always equate to a better performance over time, depending on the feed configuration, highlighting the importance of understanding mass transport during cell operation [2]. Therefore, to decouple the causes of the drastic losses of performance in-situ, we have developed a system capable of feeding vapor and liquid into AEMWE asymmetrically. The cell is constructed using a membrane electrode assembly (MEA) fabricated by the catalyst coated membrane (CCM) method, where platinum on carbon (Pt/C) and iridium oxide (IrOx) are coated directly on PiperION® anion exchange membranes. Moreover, we have studied hydroxide crossover both statically using an h-cell test and dynamically in an AEMWE cell. We have shown that, by utilizing various combinations of feeds, including humidified gas, pure water, or KOH, through both cathode and anode, it is possible to study cell performance and hydroxide transport under different conditions. Through which, we have elucidated the performance loss, the importance of hydroxide transport, and a strategy to overcome such losses, thus showing the possibility of advancing toward pure water and low-temperature vapor electrolysis. [1] Liu, Jiangjin, et al. "Elucidating the role of hydroxide electrolyte on anion-exchange-membrane water electrolyzer performance." Journal of the electrochemical society 168.5 (2021): 054522. [2] Rossi, Ruggero, Rachel Taylor, and Bruce E. Logan. "Increasing the electrolyte salinity to improve the performance of anion exchange membrane water electrolyzers." ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering 11.23 (2023): 8573-8579. Figure 1. Schematic of the developed feeding system capable of feeding water vapor and liquid into the electrolyzer. Figure 1
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Hursán, Dorottya, Egon Kecsenovity, Antal Danyi, Rita Piszmán, Anita Kovács, and Csaba Janáky. "Membrane Electrode Assembly Development for Industrial CO2 Electrolysis." ECS Meeting Abstracts MA2024-01, no. 37 (2024): 2216. http://dx.doi.org/10.1149/ma2024-01372216mtgabs.
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Membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs) are the key components of zero-gap CO2 electrolyzers, having various functions in the electrolysis process. The catalyst layers serve as the reaction interface, the porous transport layers ensure reactant and product transport to and from the catalysts, while the membrane is responsible for the ion transport between the two half cells. Thus, the structure of the MEA has a determining role on the electrolyzer operation. Industrial application requires large surface area electrolyzers and / or assembly of stacks. The scale-up, however, imposes different challenges on MEA preparation and on electrolyzer operation, therefore the optimal operating conditions can not necessarily be translated from small-scale (< 10 cm2) experiments. With the aim to scale-up the CO2 electrolysis to an industrially relevant level (>2500 cm2 active area), we thoroughly study the MEA components in a test electrolyzer cell having 100 cm2 active area. Currently we focus mainly on the optimization of the catalyst layers and the porous transport layers. The used electrolyzer size is already large enough that we can draw relevant conclusions for the operation of the large-scale electrolyzer, however, still offers possibility to screen a wide range of parameters. I will present selected results on how the improvement of the quality of the catalyst layers - through the optimization of the catalyst ink and the coating process- results in enhanced CO2 reduction performance. We also focus on the screening of different porous transport layers on the anode side with the long-term goal to reduce the precious metal consumption of the CO2 electrolysis. In the second part of my presentation, I will show how the operational parameters (e.g. cell temperature, humidity) affect the stability of the electrolysis. We have thoroughly investigated one of the biggest issues of the anion exchange membrane CO2 electrolysis: the carbonate precipitate formation and the related flooding phenomenon. We identified the pressure drop at the cathode side as a key test output parameter, which can serve as an early warning for the start of the undesired precipitation. When it is recognized in time, and the adequate preventive measures are applied, the lifetime of the electrolyzers can be greatly improved.
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Ríos, Isabela, Ryan Travis Hannagan, Daniela Marin, et al. "Fabrication of Bipolar Membrane Electrolyzers for Seawater Electrolysis: Proof-of-Concept, Operando Design, and Fundamental Studies." ECS Meeting Abstracts MA2024-01, no. 53 (2024): 2843. http://dx.doi.org/10.1149/ma2024-01532843mtgabs.
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Hydrogen (H2) is a critical industrial feedstock, essential in the production of fertilizer, steel, and fuels. Its demand is anticipated to increase ten-fold by 2050 due to its pivotal role in various new green technologies. Renewable energy-driven bipolar membrane water electrolyzers (BPMWEs) are a promising technology for sustainable production of H2 from seawater and other impure water sources. Here we present a detailed protocol on the assembly and operation of zero-gap membrane electrode assembly (MEA) BPMWE with water dissociation layers1. We describe steps for spray coating both electrodes and membranes, electrolyzer assembly, and electrochemical evaluation. This protocol provides an avenue to highlight key considerations in BPMWE fabrication methodology to ensure comparable data and rapid progress. We further highlight how this BPM platform can be used for a variety of scientific applications ranging from the seawater resistant BPMWE to an operando water electrolyzers to examine catalyst dynamics through X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS). As we work together towards a cleaner future, the detailed BPMWE protocol enables scientific communication, aiding in reproducible electrolyzer assembly practices, and accelerating the optimization of next-generation BPM-based devices.
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Esposito, Daniel V., Lucas Cohen, Jingjing Jin, et al. "Nanoscale Proton-Conducting Oxide Membranes for Low Temperature Water Electrolysis." ECS Meeting Abstracts MA2024-02, no. 48 (2024): 3358. https://doi.org/10.1149/ma2024-02483358mtgabs.
Full textAbstract:
Operating water electrolyzers at higher current densities is an attractive approach to improving the economics of hydrogen production from water electrolysis. Conventional proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzers based on Nafion membranes already operate at relatively high current densities (1.5-2.5 A cm-2), but increasing the current density to 5 A cm-2 or higher would improve the economics even further. Currently, a major limitation of operating low-temperature PEM electrolyzers at such high current densities is the large ohmic drop across the Nafion membrane, which can dramatically lower electrolyzer efficiency. To reduce the membrane resistance and enable efficient operation at high current densities, our team has been exploring the use of nanoscopic proton-conducting silicon oxide (SiOx) membranes. Although the proton conductivity of these oxide membranes is lower than Nafion, we show that their total resistance can be made much lower than conventional Nafion-117 membranes by decreasing their thickness to the nanoscale. The use of sub-micron thick membranes is made possible by the high density of SiOx compared to Nafion, which makes SiOx membranes excellent hydrogen (H2) diffusion barriers for preventing H2 crossover. In this work, we show that the area specific membrane resistance of nanoscale SiOx membranes can be reduced to less than 20% that of Nafion-117 membranes while still maintaining desirable H2 blocking capabilities and avoiding problematic electronic leakage current.