阳极
电解质
电解
聚合物电解质膜电解
润湿
材料科学
水运
质子交换膜燃料电池
化学工程
超亲水性
海水淡化
膜
化学
电极
水流
复合材料
环境科学
环境工程
工程类
物理化学
生物化学
作者
Benzhong Zhao,ChungHyuk Lee,Jason K. Lee,Kieran F. Fahy,Jacob M. LaManna,Elias Baltic,David L. Jacobson,Daniel S. Hussey,Aimy Bazylak
标识
DOI:10.1016/j.xcrp.2021.100580
摘要
A prominent technology for green hydrogen generation is the polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) electrolyzer. However, the energy efficiency of PEM electrolyzers must improve dramatically to become economically competitive. Here, we engineer the wettability of commercial porous transport layers (PTLs) to make them superhydrophilic. We find that the superhydrophilic PTLs increase the efficiency of PEM electrolyzers by >11% at high current operation (up to 20%). We show via electrochemical analyses and in operando neutron imaging that the improved efficiency stems from reduced gas saturation in the anode PTL, which significantly decreases the mass transport overpotential. We conduct ex situ microfluidic experiments and demonstrate that capillary-driven corner flow is a key physical mechanism responsible for the reduced oxygen gas saturation and enhanced liquid water transport. Our findings illustrate the importance of PTL wettability on mass transport in PEM electrolyzers and enable the design of next-generation electrolyzers with much greater efficiency.
科研通智能强力驱动
Strongly Powered by AbleSci AI