Synthesis of titanium (IV) oxide composite membrane for hydrogen production through alkaline water electrolysis

Abstract

Alkaline water electrolysis is one of the most efficient methods for the hydrogen production. In this method widely used as the asbestos membrane as a separator, but this material is hazardous for health, causing cancer, in order to limit the usage of an asbestos separator. In this present study, a novel TiO2 composite membrane was synthesized from polysulfone (PSF), PVP and titanium oxide (TiO2) by phase inversion precipitation technique. The synthesized membranes were characterized by FT-IR, FE-SEM and XRD techniques. Further, membranes electrolysis performance studied in in-house fabricated small scale alkaline water electrolyser experimental setup of a 10 cm2 cell. These synthesized membranes were effectively improved the hydrogen production rate and purity compared to conventional asbestos separators. A current density of 600 mA/cm2 along with 30 ml/min hydrogen with 99.9% purity was obtained when operating the cell in 30 wt% KOH and 80 °C at 2 V. In electrolysis process, various experimental parameters considered such as an effect of temperature (30–80 °C) and KOH concentration (5–30 wt %) were studied. Hydrogen quantity measured by liquid displacement unit, purity determined by ENDEE portable hydrogen gas analyzer and gas chromatographic (GC) techniques. These synthesized composite membranes are low cost and showed excellent electrochemical performance and stability in alkaline medium. Keywords: Alkaline water electrolysis, TiO2 composite membrane, Phase inversion technique, Hydrogen production