Plate shaped catalysts for polymer electrolyte membrane water electrolysis

聚合物电解质膜（PEM）水电解提供了一个有前途的零排放的生产氢气的手段。然而，通过PEM电解，氢是非常昂贵的，特别是对于运输应用。为了降低氢气的成本，我们必须降低组件的成本和功率需求。催化剂涂覆的膜占电池堆成本的47%，用于承受腐蚀性阳极条件的传统钛多孔传输层占电池堆成本的25%。阳极是特别重要的，因为它具有多相逆流状态，由此液态水反应物必须流过多孔传输层（PTL）以到达催化剂层（CL）。同时，在催化剂层处产生的氧气必须经由相反方向离开系统。不幸的是，氧气倾向于积聚在阳极内，阻碍反应物液态水的有效输送，这导致转化为增加的功率需求的显著的质量输送损失。因此，需要较低成本的优化CL，并且这些材料必须针对PTL中的增强的多相输送行为进行定制，以降低操作成本。在这项工作中，Bazylak教授与Blue-O Technology合作，研究他们用于PEM电解槽应用的新型板状催化剂，并就如何定制催化剂层和双极板/电池配置的结构以实现最佳性能提供建议。

Polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) water electrolysis provides a promising zero-emission free means of producing hydrogen. However, via PEM electrolysis, hydrogen is prohibitively expensive, particularly for transportation applications. In order to reduce the cost of hydrogen, we must reduce the cost of the components and the power demands. The catalyst coated membrane contributes up to 47% of the stack cost, and conventional titanium porous transport layers used to withstand corrosive anode conditions contribute up to 25% of the stack cost. The anode is particularly important because it hosts a multiphase counterflow regime, whereby liquid water reactant must flow through the porous transport layer (PTL) to reach the catalyst layer (CL). Simultaneously, oxygen gas produced at the catalyst layer must exit the system via the opposite direction. Unfortunately, oxygen gas tends to accumulate within the anode, hindering the effective transport of reactant liquid water, which results in significant mass transport losses that translate into increased power demands. Therefore, lower-cost optimized CLs are needed, and these materials must be tailored for enhanced multiphase transport behaviour in the PTL to reduce operating costs. In this work, Prof. Bazylak is partnering with Blue-O Technology to examine their novel plate-shaped catalysts for PEM electrolyzer applications and provide recommendations on how to tailor the architecture of the catalyst layer and bipolar plate/cell configuration for optimal performance.