Accelerated Stress Test Development based on Degradation Phenomena in Proton Exchange Membrane Water Electrolysis Cells

Proton exchange membrane water electrolysis (PEMWE) is a highly efficient technology for the large-scale production of green hydrogen. Yet, the comparability and reproducibility of scientific results is not always straight forward. A deeper understanding of the degradation mechanisms is needed to further advance this technology for its market penetration. Several scenarios like the high current density operation or shut-down procedures have a major impact on the performance of the PEM water electrolysis cell1. The most affected PEMWE components, including the catalyst/catalyst layer, membrane, gas diffusion layer (GDL), porous transport layer (PTL) and bipolar plates are presented in Figure 12. In this work, a characterisation and accelerated stress test (AST) protocol has been designed based on the main degradation effects in PEMWE components. Therefore, sources of degradation for individual components in a PEMWE single cell are investigated by various techniques, including in-situ and ex-situ cell tests. The 5 cm2 PEMWE single cell is electrochemically analysed in means of polarization behaviour and impedance spectroscopy throughout a range of currents (0.01 A cm-2 to 2.0 A cm-2) at 40°C. This complementary investigation enables the benchmarking of baseline components in terms of their durability and performance.

1. Aßmann, P., Gago, A. S., Gazdzicki, P., Friedrich, K. A. & Wark, M. Current Opinion in Electrochemistry 21, 225–233 (2020) (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.coelec.2020.02.024).
2. Feng, Q. et al. Journal of Power Sources 366, 33–55 (2017) (http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jpowsour.2017.09.006).