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As a result of global warming and climate change, an increasing amount of energy comes from renewable sources, like solar and wind. Because of a mis-match between energy production and consumption, good storage solutions are required. Hydrogen can play a key role as a renewable energy storage medium, as it can be sustainably produced via alkaline water electrolysis (AWE). In AWE hydrogen and oxygen are produced at the cathode and anode, respectively (Figure 1). The electrodes are separated by a porous diaphragm, which prevents the gases from crossing over, whilst providing ionic conductivity through the support electrolyte. To ensure that the hydrogen in oxygen content remains below the explosion limit of 4%, separators used in industry are relatively thick (~500 渭m), resulting in high ohmic resistances.

Figure 1 Principle of alkaline water electrolysis.

The ohmic resistance can be reduced by using membranes with high porosity combined with high hydrophilicity. This research therefore focuses on the development of porous separators for AWE via electrospinning. In electrospinning, polymer nanofibers are produced under the influence of a strong electric field. The solution is fed through a needle with a syringe and the produced fibers are collected on a rotating drum (Figure 2). This results in a separator with high porosity and an open, interconnected pore network. The hydrophilicity is increased by the addition of inorganic filler particles, such as ZrO₂, to enable high electrolyte uptake. The membranes will be characterized in-situ in an electrolysis cell, by determining the electrochemical performance and measuring gas crossover.

Figure 2 Needle electrospinner

Contact details

Name: Thijs Jansman
Country of origin: The Netherlands
Room: STO 0.50
Email: m.j.jansman@remove-this.tue.nl