Affiliation:
1. Institute of Physical Science and Information Technology, Anhui University, Hefei 230601, China
2. Key Laboratory of Materials Physics, Anhui Key Laboratory of Nanomaterials and Nanotechnology, Institute of Solid State Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei 230031, China
Abstract
In this work, we focus on the degradation of membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs) in proton-exchange membrane water electrolysis (PEMWE) induced by different accelerated stress tests (ASTs), including constant-current mode, square-wave mode, and solar photovoltaic mode. In constant-current mode, at continuous testing for 600 h at 80 °C, a degradation of operating voltage increased by the enhanced current density from 22 µV/h (1 A/cm2) to 50 µV/h (3 A/cm2). In square-wave mode, we found that in the narrow fluctuation range (1–2 A/cm2), the shorter step time (2 s) generates a higher degradation rate of operating voltage, but in the wide fluctuation range (1–3 A/cm2), the longer step time (22 s) induces a faster operating voltage rise. In the solar photovoltaic mode, we used a simulation of 11 h sunshine duration containing multiple constant-current and square-wave modes, which is closest to the actual application environment. Over 1400 h ASTs, the solar photovoltaic mode lead to the most serious voltage rise of 87.7 µV/h. These results are beneficial to understanding the durability of the PEM electrolyzer and optimizing the components of MEAs, such as catalysts, membranes, and gas diffusion layers.
Funder
National Natural Science Foundation of China
Youth Innovation Promotion Association of CAS
HFIPS Director’s Fund
Plan for Anhui Major Provincial Science & Technology Project