Developing titanium micro/nano porous layers on planar thin/tunable LGDLs for high-efficiency hydrogen production

Kang, Zhenye; Yang, Gaoqiang; Mo, Jingke; Yu, Shule; Cullen, David A.; Retterer, Scott T.; Toops, Todd J.; Brady, Michael P.; Bender, Guido; Pivovar, Bryan S.; Green, Johney B.; Zhang, Feng-Yuan

doi:10.1016/j.ijhydene.2018.05.139

Title: Developing titanium micro/nano porous layers on planar thin/tunable LGDLs for high-efficiency hydrogen production

Journal Article · Thu Jun 21 00:00:00 EDT 2018 · International Journal of Hydrogen Energy

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2018.05.139· OSTI ID:1462842

Kang, Zhenye ^[1]; Yang, Gaoqiang ^[1]; Mo, Jingke ^[1]; Yu, Shule ^[1];

^[2];

^[2]; Bender, Guido ^[3]; Pivovar, Bryan S. ^[3]; Green, Johney B. ^[3];

^[1]

Univ. of Tennessee Space Inst. (UTSI), Tullahoma, TN (United States). Nanodynamics and High-Efficiency Lab. for Propulsion and Power (NanoHELP). Dept. of Mechanical, Aerospace & Biomedical Engineering
Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

Proton exchange membrane electrolyzer cells (PEMECs) have been considered one of the most promising devices for hydrogen generation and energy storage from water splitting, especially when coupled with sustainable energy resources. Microporous layers (MPLs), which have been widely used in fuel cells for better catalyst access and product/reactant removal, have limited investigations in PEMECs due to harsh environments and carbon corrosion. In this study, the MPLs with both irregular micro (~5 um) and spherical nano (30-50 nm) titanium particles are developed on novel thin/tunable liquid/gas diffusion layers (TT-LGDLs) and are investigated comprehensively both in-situ and ex-situ for the first time. The MPLs change the wettability of the TT-LGDLs and show super hydrophobic property. The results reveal that micro particle MPLs exhibit improved catalytic activity but increased ohmic resistances, and that nano particle MPLs do not impact catalytic activity meaningfully but exhibit even greater increases in ohmic resistance. The effects of the thickness of the MPLs are also investigated and the typical MPL is also studied by in-situ visualization in a transparent PEMEC with a high-speed and micro-scale visualization system (HMVS). The results indicate the strong feasibility of the TT-LGDLs with small pore size and large porosity for high-efficiency and low-cost PEMEC practical applications.

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Research Organization:: Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Fossil Energy (FE); USDOE Office of Science (SC); USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC05-00OR22725; FE0011585; AC36-08GO28308

OSTI ID:: 1462842

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1458820; OSTI ID: 1592513

Report Number(s):: NREL/JA-5900-71854

Journal Information:: International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, Vol. 43, Issue 31; ISSN 0360-3199

Publisher:: ElsevierCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 38 works

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