Additive manufactured bipolar plate for high-efficiency hydrogen production in proton exchange membrane electrolyzer cells

doi:10.1016/j.ijhydene.2017.04.100

Title: Additive manufactured bipolar plate for high-efficiency hydrogen production in proton exchange membrane electrolyzer cells

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Abstract

Additive manufacturing (AM) technology is capable of fast and low-cost prototyping from complex 3D digital models. To take advantage of this technology, a stainless steel (SS) plate with parallel flow field served as a combination of a cathode bipolar plate and a current distributor; it was fabricated using selective laser melting (SLM) techniques and investigated in a proton exchange membrane electrolyzer cell (PEMEC) in-situ for the first time. The experimental results show that the PEMEC with an AM SS cathode bipolar plate can achieve an excellent performance for hydrogen production for a voltage of 1.779 V and a current density of 2.0 A/cm ². The AM SS cathode bipolar plate was also characterized by SEM and EDS, and the results show a uniform elemental distribution across the plate with very limited oxidization. As a result, this research demonstrates that AM method could be a route to aid cost-effective and rapid development of PEMECs.

Authors:

Yang, Gaoqiang ^[1]; Mo, Jingke ^[1]; Kang, Zhenye ^[1]; List, III, Frederick A. ^[2]; Green, Jr., Johney B. ^[3]; Babu, Sudarsanam S. ^[4]; Zhang, Feng -Yuan ^[1]

Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States)
Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States)

Publication Date:: 2017-05-06

Research Org.:: National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

Sponsoring Org.:: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Advanced Manufacturing Office (EE-5A)

OSTI Identifier:: 1361233

Alternate Identifier(s):: OSTI ID: 1396509

Report Number(s):: NREL/JA-4A00-68481
Journal ID: ISSN 0360-3199

Grant/Contract Number:: AC36-08GO28308

Resource Type:: Accepted Manuscript

Journal Name:: International Journal of Hydrogen Energy

Additional Journal Information:: Journal Volume: 42; Journal Issue: 21; Journal ID: ISSN 0360-3199

Publisher:: Elsevier

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

Subject:: 08 HYDROGEN; additive manufacturing; bipolar plate; PEM electrolyzer cell; hydrogen production; stainless steel; selective laser melting

Citation Formats


                    Yang, Gaoqiang, Mo, Jingke, Kang, Zhenye, List, III, Frederick A., Green, Jr., Johney B., Babu, Sudarsanam S., and Zhang, Feng -Yuan. Additive manufactured bipolar plate for high-efficiency hydrogen production in proton exchange membrane electrolyzer cells.  United States: N. p., 2017. 
        Web.  doi:10.1016/j.ijhydene.2017.04.100.

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                    Yang, Gaoqiang, Mo, Jingke, Kang, Zhenye, List, III, Frederick A., Green, Jr., Johney B., Babu, Sudarsanam S., & Zhang, Feng -Yuan. Additive manufactured bipolar plate for high-efficiency hydrogen production in proton exchange membrane electrolyzer cells.  United States.  doi:10.1016/j.ijhydene.2017.04.100.

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                    Yang, Gaoqiang, Mo, Jingke, Kang, Zhenye, List, III, Frederick A., Green, Jr., Johney B., Babu, Sudarsanam S., and Zhang, Feng -Yuan. Sat .  
        "Additive manufactured bipolar plate for high-efficiency hydrogen production in proton exchange membrane electrolyzer cells".  United States.  doi:10.1016/j.ijhydene.2017.04.100.  https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1361233.

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@article{osti_1361233,

  title        = {Additive manufactured bipolar plate for high-efficiency hydrogen production in proton exchange membrane electrolyzer cells},

  author       = {Yang, Gaoqiang and Mo, Jingke and Kang, Zhenye and List, III, Frederick A. and Green, Jr., Johney B. and Babu, Sudarsanam S. and Zhang, Feng -Yuan},

  abstractNote = {Additive manufacturing (AM) technology is capable of fast and low-cost prototyping from complex 3D digital models. To take advantage of this technology, a stainless steel (SS) plate with parallel flow field served as a combination of a cathode bipolar plate and a current distributor; it was fabricated using selective laser melting (SLM) techniques and investigated in a proton exchange membrane electrolyzer cell (PEMEC) in-situ for the first time. The experimental results show that the PEMEC with an AM SS cathode bipolar plate can achieve an excellent performance for hydrogen production for a voltage of 1.779 V and a current density of 2.0 A/cm2. The AM SS cathode bipolar plate was also characterized by SEM and EDS, and the results show a uniform elemental distribution across the plate with very limited oxidization. As a result, this research demonstrates that AM method could be a route to aid cost-effective and rapid development of PEMECs.},

  doi          = {10.1016/j.ijhydene.2017.04.100},

  journal      = {International Journal of Hydrogen Energy},

  number       = 21,

  volume       = 42,

  place        = {United States},

  year         = {2017},

  month        = {5}

}

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DOI: 10.1016/j.ijhydene.2017.04.100

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