Thin liquid/gas diffusion layers for high-efficiency hydrogen production from water splitting

Mo, Jingke; Retterer, Scott T.; Cullen, David A.; Toops, Todd J.; Green, Jr, Johney Boyd; Zhang, Feng-Yuan

doi:10.1016/j.apenergy.2016.05.154

Title: Thin liquid/gas diffusion layers for high-efficiency hydrogen production from water splitting

Journal Article · Mon Jun 13 00:00:00 EDT 2016 · Applied Energy

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2016.05.154· OSTI ID:1261380

Mo, Jingke ^[1]; Retterer, Scott T. ^[2]; Cullen, David A. ^[2]; Toops, Todd J. ^[2]; Green, Jr, Johney Boyd ^[2]; Zhang, Feng-Yuan ^[1]

Univ. of Tennessee Space Inst. (UTSI), Tullahoma, TN (United States)
Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

Liquid/gas diffusion layers (LGDLs) play a crucial role in electrochemical energy technology and hydrogen production, and are expected to simultaneously transport electrons, heat, and reactants/products with minimum voltage, current, thermal, interfacial, and fluidic losses. In addition, carbon materials, which are typically used in proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs), are unsuitable for PEM electrolyzer cells (PEMECs). In this study, a novel titanium thin LGDL with well-tunable pore morphologies was developed by employing nano-manufacturing and was applied in a standard PEMEC. The LGDL tests show significant performance improvements. The operating voltages required at a current density of 2.0 A/cm² were as low as 1.69 V, and its efficiency reached a report high of up to 88%. The new thin and flat LGDL with well-tunable straight pores has been demonstrated to remarkably reduce the ohmic, interfacial and transport losses. In addition, well-tunable features, including pore size, pore shape, pore distribution, and thus porosity and permeability, will be very valuable for developing PEMEC models and for validation of its simulations with optimal and repeatable performance. The LGDL thickness reduction from greater than 350 μm of conventional LGDLs to 25 μm will greatly decrease the weight and volume of PEMEC stacks, and represents a new direction for future developments of low-cost PEMECs with high performance.

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Research Organization:: Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Fuels, Engines and Emissions Research Center (FEERC); Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). National Transportation Research Center (NTRC)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC05-00OR22725; FE0011585

OSTI ID:: 1261380

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1328497

Journal Information:: Applied Energy, Vol. 177; ISSN 0306-2619

Publisher:: ElsevierCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 73 works

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