Volume 53

Sub-rib microstructural flow channel design for application in water electrolysis Haokai Xu, Jian Huang, Kaijie Luo, Penglin Yang, Dingding Ye, Liang Zhang, Jun Li, Xun Zhu, Qiang Liao

Abstract

The flow channel structure relates to the flow channel and PTL contact resistance and mass transfer performance in the channel, especially at larger operating voltage, the gas transfer and ohmic loss seriously affect the Proton Exchange Membrane water electrolysis performance. In this paper, the flow channel sub-rib microstructure is designed, and the effects of different sub-rib microstructure designs on the performance of the electrolysis are compared by means of experiments and simulations, and the distributions of micro-vertebrae under the rib of the flow channel and liquid water in the channel, ohmic losses and mass transfer efficiency are analyzed to obtain the optimal design of the flow channel microstructure. The experimental results show that the 0.03 mm tabs under the rib can effectively reduce the interfacial ohmic resistance and improve the mass transfer, and the experimental performance is improved by 9.98% relative to the conventional flow channel, while the simulation results in a performance improvement of 14.30%.

Keywords Proton Exchange Membrane water electrolysis, flow channel, sub -rib microstructure, ohmic losses, mass transfer