Sustainable, Low-cost and Durable Polymers for Green Hydrogen Conversion Technologies

绿色氢将在脱碳过程中发挥重要作用。它可以在电解槽中使用可再生能源从水中产生，或者用于从燃料电池中产生电力。然而，电化学装置的高资本成本是大规模商业化的障碍。成本的一个主要因素是膜电解质，通常是昂贵的磺化含氟聚合物。含氟聚合物也与生态破坏的“永久化学品”有关，这正面临越来越多的审查。聚乙烯醇（PVA）是一种可生物降解的廉价聚合物。作为概念验证，九州大学（日本）的合作伙伴首次证明了PVA基膜具有低气体渗透性和足够的离子电导率，当用磺酸基团进行化学改性时，可用于燃料电池发电。基于上述新工作，PVA将作为燃料电池和电解槽的替代膜电解质进行研究。日本合作伙伴将对PVA膜进行化学和机械改性;对其进行广泛表征;然后在现实生活中的燃料电池和电解槽中进行测试，以评估其在不同条件下的性能和耐用性。另一方面，英国团队将利用实验产生的数据，通过多物理场建模对含PVA膜的燃料电池和电解槽进行模拟，预测它们在各种条件下在电化学系统中的表现。计算数据将同时用于通知项目的实验部分，以缩短设计周期，节省材料和时间。将组织大量的相互研究访问，以获得英国团队实验部分（含PVA膜的合成，表征和测试）的实践经验，以及日本团队的建模部分（构建和运行燃料电池和电解槽的多物理模型）。这项合作研究的成果将是：提高对PVA基膜在电化学系统中的行为的理解;为绿色氢应用开发一种新的低成本和更可持续的膜电解质;以及在英国和日本之间建立一个研究网络，以分享绿色氢生成和利用这一高度战略性研究学科的专业知识和专有技术。

Green hydrogen will play a crucial role in decarburisation. It can be generated from water using renewable energy in an electrolyser or used to generate electricity from a fuel cell. However, the high capital cost of electrochemical devices is a roadblock to mass commercialisation. A major factor in the cost is the membrane electrolyte, conventionally an expensive sulfonated fluoropolymer. Fluoropolymers are also associated with ecologically damaging "forever chemicals" which are facing increasing scrutiny.Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) is a biodegradable and cheap polymer. As proof-of-concept, the partners at Kyushu University (Japan) have, for the first time, shown that the PVA based membranes have: low gas permeability and sufficient ionic conductivity for power generation in fuel cells when chemically modified with sulfonic acid groups.Building upon the above novel work, PVA will be investigated as an alternative membrane electrolyte for fuel cells and electrolysers. The Japanese partner will perform the chemical and mechanical modification of the PVA membranes; extensively characterising them; and then testing them in real-life fuel cells and electrolysers to evaluate their performance and durability under different conditions. On the other hand, the UK team will use the generated data from experiments to perform simulations of PVA membrane-containing fuel cells and electrolysers through multiphysics modelling, predicting how they will perform in electrochemical systems under a wide variety of conditions. The computational data will be simultaneously used to inform the experimental part of the project to shorten the design cycle and save materials and time. A good number of mutual research visits will be organised to gain hands-on experience on the experimental part (synthesis, characterisation and testing of PVA containing membranes) by the UK team, and on the modelling part (building and running multiphysics models for fuel cells and electrolysers) by the Japanese team. The outcome of this collaborative research will be: an improved understanding of the behaviour of PVA based membranes in electrochemical systems; the development of a new class of low cost and more sustainable membrane electrolytes for green hydrogen applications; and the establishment of a research network between the UK and Japan for sharing expertise and know-how in the highly strategic research discipline of green hydrogen generation and utilisation.