Alkaline zero gap bipolar water electrolyzer for hydrogen production with independent fluid path

Abstract

The production of green hydrogen by water splitting from renewable energy is of great significance for achieving sustainable energy development. Alkaline water electrolysis (AWE) is the most economical and feasible route at present due to its earth-abundant catalysts, but it is desirable and crucial to improve the efficiency and purity of hydrogen production. Hydrogen production purity and energy consumption affect the fluctuation range of input power and economy respectively. In this paper, an electrolyzer with independent fluid flow path (IFP) is designed, which improves the problem of shutting current, hydrogen purity and hydrogen production efficiency. It has the characteristics of bipolar plate, zero gap and IFP. A test platform was built to verify its performance. The results showed that the IFP structure significantly improved the purity of hydrogen production, and the energy efficiency value increased by more than 3.29%.

Keywords

• AWE
• Hydrogen production
• IFP
• Electrolyzer