CATALYST COATED MEMBRANE - NEW APPROACH IN THE ALKALINE WATER ELECTROLYSIS PROCESS

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F60461373%3A22310%2F19%3A43918237" target="_blank" >RIV/60461373:22310/19:43918237 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

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DOI - Digital Object Identifier

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Result language

angličtina

Original language name

CATALYST COATED MEMBRANE - NEW APPROACH IN THE ALKALINE WATER ELECTROLYSIS PROCESS

Original language description

Water electrolysis together with fuel cells is currently one of the most studied electrochemical technologies. These technologies should be involved in a hydrogen economy, where excessive electrical energy from renewable sources is used to produce “green” hydrogen, which can be transformed back to electricity in a fuel cell. One of the industrially used technology of the water electrolysis is alkaline water electrolysis (AWE) whose main advantage over polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) water electrolysis is the use of non-Pt metals as catalysts [1]. AWE is currently working with an inorganic diaphragm as a separator and concentrated liquid electrolyte is thus needed. But, it can be optimized using an anion selective polymer separator, which also allows us to prepare a membrane electrode assembly (MEA), where catalyst is applied either on to the substrate, referred to as a catalyst coated electrode (CCE) or on to the membrane, referred to as a catalyst coated membrane (CCM). CCM has several advantages over CCE. For example, there is a better contact between the catalyst and membrane and we can work with thinner layer [2]. The catalyst layer is composed of a catalyst powder and polymer binder. The binder is important for securing of the ionic contact and making the catalyst layer more compact. Because of these properties of the binder, ratio of catalyst:binder needs to be investigated. For CCE, typically 90:10 ratio is used [3], but for CCM this ratio needs to be modified. In this work, we prepare and study CCMs with varying ratio of catalyst and binder. After evaluating the influence of the ratio, catalyst particle size will be further investigated. As an anion selective membrane block copolymer polystyrene-ethylene-butylene-styrene (PSEBS) with 1,4-diazabicyclo[2.2.2]octane (DABCO) functional groups is used. We use non-Pt catalyst, specifically NiCo2O4 as an anode catalyst and NiFe2O4 as a cathode catalyst. Performance of the AWE in the form of the load curves is measured. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) is used to evaluate the ohmic and polarization resistances of the system and SEM is used to observe the morphology of prepared CCMs. The obtained results show the possibility to achieve the high current densities with lower catalyst load. CCM thus represents a promising way of improving the alkaline water electrolysis technology.

Czech name

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Czech description

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Type

O - Miscellaneous

CEP classification

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OECD FORD branch

10405 - Electrochemistry (dry cells, batteries, fuel cells, corrosion metals, electrolysis)

Project

<a href="/en/project/FV10529" target="_blank" >FV10529: Advanced process for electrolytic hydrogen production from renewable sources</a><br>

Continuities

P - Projekt vyzkumu a vyvoje financovany z verejnych zdroju (s odkazem do CEP)

Publication year

2019

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů