SBIR Phase I: Improving Anion Exchange Membrane Water Electrolyzers via Novel Electrode Geometry

SBIR 第一阶段：通过新型电极几何结构改进阴离子交换膜水电解槽

• 批准号: 2223148
• 负责人: Philipp Muscher
• 金额: $ 27.49万
• 依托单位: ORIGEN HYDROGEN, INC.
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-09-15 至 2023-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2223148&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SBIR; Phase; Improving; Anion; Exchange

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project is to enable very highly-efficient low-cost green hydrogen production by improving a key functional component of a promising water electrolysis technology. Green hydrogen is a chemical fuel and a feedstock with no associated CO2 emissions. In an effort to decarbonize our economy, green hydrogen can address sectors of our economy that are not easily electrified using clean electricity, for example steelmaking, chemicals, heating, and heavy transport such as shipping and aviation. However, the cost of green hydrogen is still too high to prompt large-scale adoption. The pure-water electrolyzers developed in this project can significantly reduce green hydrogen production costs compared to the current state-of-the-art: they require only water and electricity as inputs, and are entirely made of low-cost, non-toxic materials, utilizing domestic supply chains. They are modular, enabling the development of both large hydrogen production facilities and small decentralized systems, e.g., for on-site operations or refueling stations. This project will not only help the adoption of green hydrogen, it will also elucidate how the chemical and electrochemical modifications of active surfaces can more broadly be used to make electrochemical reactions, such as water splitting, more efficient.This SBIR Phase I project proposes to drastically improve a key component of an anion exchange membrane water electrolyzer (AEMEL): the anode electrode. The anode is the site of the oxygen evolution reaction (OER), a required but inefficient step during electrolytic hydrogen production. Enhancement of the OER kinetics by improved anode design, if translated to commercial AEMEL systems, would directly lead to a lower cost of green hydrogen. This project aims to replace the conventional two-layer anode, in which a complex catalyst layer is coated on top of a porous transport layer (PTL), with a simpler “unified” anode, in which the PTL is functionalized such that the catalyst layer is no longer necessary and the reaction kinetics are improved. In this project, two approaches to functionalize the PTL surface will be combined: the increase of the electrochemically active surface area (via etching, dealloying, and deposition techniques) and the increase of the intrinsic catalytic OER activity (via alloying and deposition techniques). This effort is expected to result in significantly improved AEMEL performance and lifetime, which will be evaluated using electrochemical methods, both ex situ (3-electrode cell) and in situ (in an operating electrolyzer).This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

该小型企业创新研究（SBIR）项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力是通过改进有前途的水电解技术的关键功能组件来实现非常高效的低成本绿色氢气生产。绿色氢是一种化学燃料和原料，没有相关的CO2排放。为了使我们的经济脱碳，绿色氢可以解决我们的经济部门不容易使用清洁电力，例如炼钢，化工，供暖和重型运输，如航运和航空。然而，绿色氢的成本仍然太高，无法促进大规模采用。该项目开发的纯水电解槽与目前最先进的技术相比，可以显著降低绿色制氢成本：它们只需要水和电作为投入，并且完全由低成本无毒材料制成，利用国内供应链。它们是模块化的，能够开发大型制氢设施和小型分散系统，例如，用于现场操作或加油站。该项目不仅有助于采用绿色氢气，还将阐明如何更广泛地使用活性表面的化学和电化学改性，使电化学反应（如水裂解）更有效。SBIR第一阶段项目提出大幅改进阴离子交换膜水电解槽（AEMEL）的关键部件：阳极电极。阳极是析氧反应（OER）的场所，这是电解制氢过程中必需但效率低下的步骤。通过改进的阳极设计来增强OER动力学，如果转化为商业AEMEL系统，将直接导致绿色氢的较低成本。该项目旨在用更简单的“统一”阳极取代传统的双层阳极，其中复合催化剂层涂覆在多孔传输层（PTL）的顶部，其中PTL被官能化，使得不再需要催化剂层，并且反应动力学得到改善。在该项目中，将结合两种方法来功能化PTL表面：增加电化学活性表面积（通过蚀刻，去合金化和沉积技术）和增加固有的催化OER活性（通过合金化和沉积技术）。这一努力预计将导致显着提高AEMEL的性能和寿命，这将使用电化学方法进行评估，包括非原位（3电极电池）和原位（在运行电解槽中）。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估的支持。