Catalyst-coated proton exchange membrane for hydrogen production with high pressure water electrolysis

Green hydrogen is currently enjoying a worldwide momentum due to its potential in supporting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. It is one of key technologies toward the establishment of a global low-carbon energy infrastructure. As a viable solution to achieve green hydrogen from renewable sources such as wind and solar powers, the process of proton exchange membrane (PEM) water electrolysis enables scalable stacked devices and systems for high pressure hydrogen production. By developing a catalyst-coated proton exchange membrane, we constructed membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs) and assembled them into a five-cell stack device to optimize the materials and components. After device characterization and optimization, a 20 kW PEM water electrolysis system was built, which, under high pressure operating conditions, exhibited favorable hydrogen production performance with 82.9% energy efficiency at the current density of 1000 mA/cm2 and reaction temperature of 70 °C. The resulting hydrogen production rate of the system with catalyst-coated membranes reached 3.09 N m3/h, while the power consumption for hydrogen production was 4.39 kWh/N m3. The results indicate the feasibility of PEM water electrolysis technology for green hydrogen production, for which we envision development into commercial applications in the near future.