Abstract
The aim of this work is to evaluate the possible use of Nexar™ polymer, a sulfonated pentablock copolymer (s-PBC), whose structure is formed by tert-butyl styrene, hydrogenated isoprene, sulfonated styrene, hydrogenated isoprene, and tert-butyl styrene (tBS-HI-SS-HI-tBS), as a more economical and efficient alternative to Nafion® membrane for proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolysis cells. Furthermore, we have studied a new methodology for modification of gas diffusion layers (GDL) by depositing Pt and TiO2 nanoparticles at the cathode and anode side, respectively, and a protective polymeric layer on their surface, allowing the improvement of the contact with the membrane. Morphological, structural, and electrical characterization were performed on the Nexar™ membrane and on the modified GDLs. The use of modified GDLs positively affects the efficiency of the water electrolysis process. Furthermore, Nexar™ showed higher water uptake and conductivity with respect to Nafion®, resulting in an increased amount of current generated during water electrolysis. In conclusion, we show that Nexar™ is an efficient and cheaper alternative to Nafion® as the proton exchange membrane in water splitting applications and we suggest a possible methodology for improving GDLs’ properties. These results meet the urgent need for low-cost materials and processes for hydrogen production.
Highlights
Polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) water electrolysis is one of the most promising technologies for hydrogen production due to its relatively high compactness, simplicity, low operating temperature, and high efficiency [1,2]
Water uptake is an important property for polymeric membranes that have to be used as proton exchange membrane (PEM) in water electrolysis; we measured this value for our Nafion and Nexar membranes
The water content value of each membrane was determined by using a microbalance and recorded as: water uptake% = [(mwet − mdry )/mdry ] × 100, where mdry is the mass of membrane dried in an oven at 60 ◦ C for 2 h and put to equilibrate in a desiccator before being weighed; mwet is the weight of the membrane after immersion in deionized water at room temperature for at least 48 h
Summary
Polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) water electrolysis is one of the most promising technologies for hydrogen production due to its relatively high compactness, simplicity, low operating temperature, and high efficiency [1,2]. Hydrogen is an excellent fuel that is ideal for energy storage from discontinuous renewable power sources such as photovoltaic or wind fields. The shift to a hydrogen-based economy has been disrupted by various fundamental and organizational factors, mainly concerning storage, distribution, and production. Even if hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe, it is not present as itself; it must be produced by extraction from natural gas (48%), oil (30%), coal (18%), or by electrolysis (4%) by means of an energy input [3].
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