Proton exchange membrane fuel cell electrolysis

Solid Polymer Electrolysis (SPE) and Proton-exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC)... 

Bulk production of hydrogen via electrolysis appears improbable until renewable or nuclear electricity becomes widely available and considerably cheaper than at present. The principal attribute of electrolytic hydrogen is its ultra-purity, which is an important requirement for proton-exchange membrane fuel cells. Nevertheless, the use of valuable electricity to electrolyze water and then feeding the resultant hydrogen to a fuel cell is intrinsically wasteful by virtue of the combined inefficiencies of the two devices involved. This really only makes sense in situations where there is more electricity than can be consumed as such, or where there are reasons for wanting hydrogen that transcend considerations of efficiency and cost. 

Proton exchange membranes, whether operating in electrolysis mode or fuel cell mode, have the property of higher efficiency at lower current density. There is a 1 1 relationship in electrolysis between the rate of hydrogen production and current applied to the system. 

Some vinyl fluoride-based polymers with side chains of perfluorosulfonic acid (the Nation family) are important ion-exchange membrane materials used in practice for electrolysis of NaCl and in certain fuel cells. They show a proton conductivity of 0.01 S cm- at room temperature. However, such fast ionic transport occurs only when they are swollen with water. It is therefore not appropriate to call them solid electrolytes in the tme sense of the word. It was in 1970 that anionic conductivity, though not high, was reported for crown ether complexes such as dibenzo-18-crown-6 KSCN, in which cations are trapped by the ligand. " A few years later much higher cationic (instead of anionic) conduction was found in complexes of a chain-like polyether such as PEO or PPO with alkaline salts here, PEO stands for poly(ethyleneoxide), (CHjCHj-O), and PPO for poly(propyleneoxide)."2>"3 These were the flrst examples of tme polymer solid electrolytes and were followed by a great number of studies. Polymeric electrolytes are advantageous in practice because they are easily processed and formed into flexible Aims. 

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