Development and testing of a highly efficient proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzer stack

Integrated with the renewable energy resources such as wind and solar energy, a Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) water electrolyzer is one of the important methods for hydrogen production due to its high efficiency, compact structure, releasing no harmful emission and possibility to store the product hydrogen directly to high pressure tanks. In this study, development stages of a highly efficient PEM electrolyzer stack are presented. First, a single cell is developed and its performance is improved from 74% to 87% through design and materials enhancement. Then a 10-cell stack is developed and its operating parameters are optimized for high efficiency. The 10-cell stack produces 5 l/min hydrogen at 1.35 A/cm(2). The single cell is tested for 2000 hours continuously and an acceptable degradation rate of 1.5 mu V/h is measured. Copyright (C) 2011, Hydrogen Energy Publications, LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.