Challenges and important considerations when benchmarking single-cell alkaline electrolyzers

International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, vol. 47, pp. 4294–4303

Abstract

This study outlines an approach to identifying the difficulties associated with the benchmarking of alkaline single cells under real electrolyzer conditions. A challenging task in the testing and comparison of different catalysts is obtaining reliable and meaningful benchmarks for these conditions. Negative effects on reproducibility were observed due to the reduction in conditioning time. On the anode side, a stable passivation layer of NiO can be formed by annealing of the Ni foams, which is even stable during long-term operation. Electrical contact resistance and impedance measurements showed that most of the contact resistance derived from the annealed Ni foam. Additionally, analysis of various overvoltages indicated that most of the total overvoltage comes from the anode and cathode activation overpotential. Different morphologies of the substrate material exhibited an influence on the performance of the alkaline single cell, based on an increase in the ohmic resistance.

Authors 8

1. Cinar Karacan

   Forschungszentrum Jülich

   Affiliation as printed

   Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Institute of Energy and Climate Research, IEK-14: Electrochemical Process Engineering, 52425 Jülich, Germany

2. Felix P. Lohmann-Richters

   Forschungszentrum Jülich

   Affiliation as printed

   Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Institute of Energy and Climate Research, IEK-14: Electrochemical Process Engineering, 52425 Jülich, Germany

3. Gareth P. Keeley

   Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives · CEA Grenoble · Laboratoire d'Électronique des Technologies de l'Information · Université Grenoble Alpes

   Affiliation as printed

   Univ. Grenoble Alpes, CEA, LETI, DTBS, L2CB, 38000 Grenoble, France

4. Fabian Scheepers

   Forschungszentrum Jülich

   Affiliation as printed

   Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Institute of Energy and Climate Research, IEK-14: Electrochemical Process Engineering, 52425 Jülich, Germany

5. Meital Shviro

   Forschungszentrum Jülich

   Affiliation as printed

   Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Institute of Energy and Climate Research, IEK-14: Electrochemical Process Engineering, 52425 Jülich, Germany

6. Martin Johannes Müller

   Forschungszentrum Jülich

   Affiliation as printed

   Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Institute of Energy and Climate Research, IEK-14: Electrochemical Process Engineering, 52425 Jülich, Germany

7. Marcelo Carmo corresponding

   Forschungszentrum Jülich · Queen's University

   Affiliation as printed

   Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Institute of Energy and Climate Research, IEK-14: Electrochemical Process Engineering, 52425 Jülich, Germany

   Mechanical and Materials Engineering, Queen's University, Kingston, ON, K7L 3N6, Canada

8. Detlef Stolten Aachen Chair for Fuel Cells

   Forschungszentrum Jülich · RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Chair for Fuel Cells, RWTH Aachen University, Germany

   Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Institute of Energy and Climate Research, IEK-3: Techno-economic Systems Analysis, 52425 Jülich, Germany