Abstract
Renewable energy hydrogen or so-called green hydrogen has become an attractive alternative for energy storage.
Increasing global green hydrogen production can be achieved by rapidly scaling up industrial electrolysers
capabilities and reducing the overall cost of the cells. Several different methods for electrolysis are currently under
development and some are already commercially available, however none of these methods have yet reached a
point of economic viability. Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) water electrolysis is a very attractive solution for
hydrogen production to achieve the scaleup necessary for renewable energy storage. However, there are various
open issues like cell's efficiency, compactness and use of scarce materials which limit the broader use of PEM
electrolysers. To address these issues, a Porous Transport Layer (PTL) with a novel titanium foil-based design and
perforations mapping only the water channels of the bipolar plates is proposed. Samples with the proposed PTL
morphology were produced through laser drilling, with their performance analysed and compared with that achieved
with commonly used titanium felts when integrated into a PEM electrolyser cell. The produced PTLs with the
proposed new morphology have shown an improvement from 8 to 30% throughout the entire working range of the
PEM electrolyser cell, while the PTL thickness was reduced by 60% when compared to the standard titanium felts.
Increasing global green hydrogen production can be achieved by rapidly scaling up industrial electrolysers
capabilities and reducing the overall cost of the cells. Several different methods for electrolysis are currently under
development and some are already commercially available, however none of these methods have yet reached a
point of economic viability. Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) water electrolysis is a very attractive solution for
hydrogen production to achieve the scaleup necessary for renewable energy storage. However, there are various
open issues like cell's efficiency, compactness and use of scarce materials which limit the broader use of PEM
electrolysers. To address these issues, a Porous Transport Layer (PTL) with a novel titanium foil-based design and
perforations mapping only the water channels of the bipolar plates is proposed. Samples with the proposed PTL
morphology were produced through laser drilling, with their performance analysed and compared with that achieved
with commonly used titanium felts when integrated into a PEM electrolyser cell. The produced PTLs with the
proposed new morphology have shown an improvement from 8 to 30% throughout the entire working range of the
PEM electrolyser cell, while the PTL thickness was reduced by 60% when compared to the standard titanium felts.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | WCMNM 2024 Proceedings |
| Publication status | Unpublished - 2024 |
