Development of Novel AEM Water Electrolyser Cell for Hydrogen Production for Energy Storage

Hydrogen is expected to play a key role in meeting the need for clean fuel for both energy storage and transport requirements. Presently, > 95% of H2 production comes from fossil fuel feedstock using gas phase reactions at high temperature. In contrast to this technology, water electrolysis provides a clean route to hydrogen from water without the consumption of fossil fuel or the emission of CO2. If the electricity comes from renewable energy sources, water electrolysis becomes a truly green technology. In 1970s a proton exchange membrane (PEM) water electrolysis cell for H2 and O2 production were designed, tested and fabricated by General Electric. With high quality production of H2 and O2, this technology is yet very expensive because of employing precious metals and membrane within the cell. The major customers are the military and the space exploration.

An attractive approach is based on design of zero gap anion exchange membrane (AEM) electrolyser with a hydroxide conduction membrane. AEM water electrolyser opens up the possibility of using non-precious metal catalysts and cheaper cell components, which leads to the possibility of cost-competitive hydrogen production for a broad market penetration. This project therefore aims to develop an AEM water electrolyser cell for hydrogen production in high efficiency and cost-competiveness. The research activity will be built on the research group's previous work: the first research task is to optimize the selected catalysts. The second task is to investigate the catalyst deposition method on the membrane. The third task is to construct an AEM water electrolyser cell with a desired performance.