Volume 50

A comprehensive 3-D proton exchange membrane water electrolysis cell model: An optimization perspective Liulin Que, Yanyan Huang, Liang Zhang, Jun Li, Dingding Ye, Jian Huang, Xun Zhu, Qiang Liao

Abstract

Proton exchange membrane water electrolysis (PEMWE) have received great attention for renewable hydrogen production. In present work, a 3D multi-phase, non-isothermal cell-level model that consider all the physical characteristics in water electrolysis, such as liquid water transport, proton transport in membrane electrode assembly (MEA), electron transport in solid electrode, gas diffusion in porous electrodes, water evaporation, dissolved water transport in MEA and hydrogen permeation from cathode to anode. The numerical results show good agreement with experimental data. The validated model is used to analyze the effect of key operating conditions on the voltage losses and efficiency. T0 = 80 °C is optimal for the full range of operating current densities. However, as current density increases, lower temperatures become more beneficial for performance. Performance can be improved through the development of CLs with good activity, especially on the anode side. The above findings provide the characteristics of gas distribution and the influencing mechanisms of key parameters within the cell, providing a theoretical foundation for optimal design of PEMWE.

Keywords PEM water electrolysis, modeling, efficiency, temperature, optimization