• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.331-337
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• 2017

Proton Exchange Membrane Water Electrolysis (PEMWE) is one of the most popular and widely used methods for hydrogen production. PEMWE contributes to eco-friendly system via its energy storage system application, hence making it environmentally friendly to use. However, its main drawback is contamination of proton exchange membrane during water electrolysis. Existing cation such as magnesium, calcium and the likes are the cause for membrane contamination. As a result, the cation contamination give rise to degradation of performance of electrolysis and the reverse electrolysis is effective method to remove cation.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.275-282
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• 2022

In contemporary days, hydrogen-based energies including batteries are renowned to be effective. And its effectiveness comes from the fact that it possesses high efficiency as an energy carrier. Eco-friendly and high purity of hydrogens comes out from water electrolysis. And among different types of electrolysis, proton exchange membrane (PEM) water electrolysis is considered the most renewable, cheap, and eco-friendly. It produces oxygen and hydrogens which are feasible in using as energies. Since it has such a number of benefits, increased research is going on in PEM electrolysis. Nafion is widely used as PEM, but high cost and various other disadvantages leads to the exploration of alternative materials. This review is broadly classified into Nafion and non Nafion based PEM for water electrolysis.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.52 no.6
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• pp.695-700
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• 2014

Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells (PEMFC) can generate hydrogen and oxygen from water by electrolysis. But the electrode and polymer electrolyte membrane degrade rapidly during PEM water electrolysis because of high operation voltage over 1.7V. In order to reduce the rate of anode electrode degradation, unsupported $IrO_2$ catalyst was used generally. In this study, Pt/C catalyst for PEMFC was used as a water electrolysis catalyst, and then the degradation of catalyst and membrane were analysed. After water electrolysis reaction in the voltage range from 1.8V to 2.0V, I-V curves, impedance spectra, cyclic voltammograms and linear sweep voltammetry (LSV) were measured at PEMFC operation condition. The degradation rate of electrode and membrane increased as the voltage of water electrolysis increased. The hydrogen yield was 88 % during water electrolysis for 1 min at 2.0V, the performance at 0.6V decreased to 49% due to degradation of membrane and electrode assembly.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.61 no.1
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• pp.19-25
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• 2023

Although a lot of research and development has been conducted on the performance improvement of PEM (Proton Exchange Membrane) water electrolysis, the research on durability is still in early stage. This study investigated effect of temperature on the water electrolysis durability when driving temperature of the PEM water electrolysis was increased to improve performance. Voltage change, I-V, CV (Cyclic Voltammetry), LSV (Linear Sweep Voltammetry), Impedance, and FER (Fluoride Emission Rate) were measured while driving under a constant current condition in a temperature range of 50~80 ℃. As the operating temperature increased, the degradation rate increased. At 50~65 ℃, the degradation of the IrO₂ electrocatalyst mainly affected the durability of the PEM water electrolysis cell. At 80 ℃, the polymer membrane and electrode degradation proceeded similarly, and the short resistance decreased to 1.0 kΩ·cm² or less, and the performance decreased to about 1/3 of the initial stage after 144 hours of operation due to the shorting phenomenon.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.265-273
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• 2017

Solid-state alkaline water electrolysis is a promising method for producing hydrogen using renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power. Despite active investigations of component development for anion exchange membrane water electrolysis (AEMWE), understanding of the device performance remains insufficient for the commercialization of AEMWE. The study of assembled AEMWE devices is essential to validate the activity and stability of developed catalysts and electrolyte membranes, as well as the dependence of the performance on the device operating conditions. Herein, we review the development of catalysts and membranes reported by different AEMWE companies such as ACTA S.p.A. and Proton OnSite and device operating conditions that significantly affect the AEMWE performance. For example, $CuCoO_x$ and $LiCoO_2$ have been studied as oxygen evolution catalysts by Acta S.p.A and Proton OnSite, respectively. Anion exchange membranes based on polyethylene and polysulfone are also investigated for use as electrolyte membranes in AEMWE devices. In addition, operation factors, including temperature, electrolyte concentration and acidity, and solution feed methods, are reviewed in terms of their influence on the AEMWE performance. The reaction rate of water splitting generally increases with increase in operating temperature because of the facilitated kinetics and higher ion conductivity. The effect of solution feeding configuration on the AEMWE performance is explained, with a brief discussion on current AEMWE performance and device durability.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.332-339
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• 2021

Recently, due to concerns about the depletion of fossil fuels and the emission of greenhouse gases, the importance of hydrogen energy technology, which is a clean energy source that does not emit greenhouse gases, is being emphasized. Water electrolysis technology is a green hydrogen technology that obtains hydrogen by electrolyzing water and is attracting attention as one of the ultimate clean future energy resources. In this study, the surface properties of the porous transport layer (PTL), one of the cell components of the proton exchange membrane water electrolysis (PEMWE), were controlled using a sandpaper to reduce overvoltage and increase performance and stability. The surfaces of PTL were sanded using sandpapers of 400, 180, and 100 grit, and then all samples were finally treated with the sandpaper of 1000 grit. The prepared PTL was analyzed for the degree of hydrophilicity by measuring the water contact angle, and the surface shape was observed through SEM analysis. In order to analyze the electrochemical characteristics, I-V performance curves and impedance measurements were conducted.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.283-292
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• 2023

Currently, spray coating has attracted interest in the mass production of anode catalyst layers for proton exchange membrane water electrolysis (PEMWE). The solvent in the spray ink is a critical factor for the catalyst dispersion in ink, the microstructure of the catalyst layer, and the PEMWE performance. Herein, various pure organic solvents were examined as a substitute for conventional isopropanol-deionized water (IPA-DIW) mixture for ink solvent. Among the polar solvents that exhibited better IrO₂ dispersion over nonpolar solvents, 2-butanol (2-BuOH) was selected as a suitable candidate. The PEMWE single cells were fabricated using 2-BuOH at various ionomer contents, spray nozzle types, and drying temperatures, and their performance was compared to the cells fabricated using a conventional IPA-DIW mixture. The PEMWE single cells with 2-BuOH solvent showed good performances comparable to the conventional IPA-DIW mixture case and highly durable performances under accelerated degradation tests.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.341-348
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• 2016

The experiments related on structure and water electrolysis performance of HALE UAV stack were conducted in this study. Anode catalyst $IrRuO_2$ was prepared by Adam's fusion methods as 2~3 nm nano sized particles, and the cathode catalyst was used as commercial product of Premetek. The MEA (membrane electrode assembly) was manufactured by decal methods, anode and anode catalytic layers were prepared by electro-spray. HALE stack was composed of 5 multi-cells as $0.2Nm^3/hr$ hydrogen production rate with hydrogen pressure as 10 bar. The water electrolysis performance was investigated at atmospheric pressure and temperature of $55^{\circ}C$. Best performance of HALE UAV stack was recorded as cell voltage efficiency as 86%.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.99-108
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• 2018

Proton exchange membrane (PEM) water electrolysis systems offer several advantages over traditional technologies including higher energy efficiency, higher production rates, and more compact design. In this study, all the experiments were performed with a self-designed PEM electrolyser operated at 1 atm and $25^{\circ}C$. Two types of electrolyte were used: (i) potassium hydroxide (KOH), and (ii) sulfuric acid ($H_2SO_4$). In the experiments, the voltage, current, and time were measured. The concentration of the electrolyte significantly affected the electrolyser performance. Overall the best case was with 15 wt% $H_2SO_4$ at the anode channel and 20 wt% at the cathode channel with. In addition, increasing the difference in concentration of the sulfuric acid had an effect on the diffusion. The diffusion flux became larger when the difference in concentration became larger, increasing electrolyser efficiency without the addition of extra energy.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.69-80
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• 2022

The anion exchange membrane (AEM) water electrolysis for high purity hydrogen production is attracting attention as a next-generation green hydrogen production technology by using inexpensive non-noble metal-based catalysts instead of conventional precious metal catalysts used in proton exchange membrane (PEM) water electrolysis systems. However, since AEM water electrolysis technology is in the early stages of development, it is necessary to develop research on AEM, ionomers, electrode supports and catalysts, which are key elements of AEM water electrolysis. Among them, current research in the field of catalysts is being studied to apply a previously developed half-cell catalyst for alkali to the AEM system, and the applied catalyst has disadvantages of low activity and durability. Therefore, this review presented a catalyst synthesis technique that promoted oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) using a non-noble metal-based catalyst in an alkaline medium.