Cross-plane iridium-based filaments sap efficiency in Proton Exchange Membrane Electrolyzers

  1. Christine Heume
  2. Violeta Karyofylli
  3. Ali Javed
  4. Krzysztof Dzieciol
  5. Shibabrata Basak
  6. Jean-Pierre Poc
  7. Yasemin Tasdemir
  8. Yannik Rutsch
  9. Lukas Rein
  10. Niklas Wolf
  11. Sebastian Speer
  12. Sven Jovanovic
  13. Leander Treutlein
  14. Julian Borowec
  15. Florian Hausen
  16. Josef Granwehr
  17. Hans Kungl
  18. Eva Jodat
  19. André Karl
  20. Rüdiger-A. Eichel
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Abstract

Proton exchange membrane electrolysis cells (PEMEC) are a key technology for producing “green hydrogen” – a sustainable energy carrier and platform for synthesizing manifold chemicals. To bolster performance and durability of PEMEC and accelerate market ramp-up of a green hydrogen economy, this study aims to elucidate operation-induced changes in an PEMEC cell operated under realistic conditions for over 5,000 hours. This investigation has uncovered a new systematic aging phenomenon of current pathways caused by cross-plane formation of iridium filaments within the membrane, showing a correlation between filament formation and the anode - porous transport layer (PTL) interface. Experiments and computational modeling substantiate that these currents reduce system performance and impair hydrogen generation efficiency.

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  1. Version published to 10.21203/rs.3.rs-5337119/v1 on Research Square