| Phase: |
Theme |
| Theme: | Grids and Storage (T06) |
| Status: | Active |
| Start Date: | 2023-04-01 |
| End Date: | 2026-03-31 |
| Principal Investigator |
| Secanell, Marc |
Project Overview
Alkaline exchange membrane water electrolysis (AEMWE) was studied in FES T06-P04, as it holds the promise to deliver green hydrogen without the use of scarce and expensive platinum group metal (PGM) catalysts. In FES T06-P04, Dr. Secanell's team developed in-house alkaline membrane electrolyzer fabrication and testing capabilities and was able to show excellent electrolyzer performance using anion exchange membrane and PGM catalysts. In parallel, Dr. Qureshi’s group was also able to show that laser power bed fusion (LPBF) 3D printing could be used to fabricate nickel and steel porous transport layers, which are suitable materials for water splitting in alkaline conditions.
We hypothesize that a non-PGM AEMWE with similar performance to state-of-the-art proton exchange membrane electrolyzers (which require PGM catalysts) can be fabricated using a nickel porous layer and nickel-alloy catalyst layer. Therefore, the aim of this project is to develop a proof-of-concept AEMWE using a LPBF porous transport layer and an inkjet-printed non-PGM catalyst layer. The prototype should be able to demonstrate that green electrolysis could be achieved without the use of expensive critical minerals and ‘forever’ chemicals.
Outputs
| Title |
Category |
Date |
Authors |
| Analysis of the Porosity Production in LPBF Process Using Designed Porosity and Process Parameters University of Alberta | Publication | 2022-06-21 | Shokoufeh Sardarian, Shirin Dehgahi, Secanell, M., Qureshi, A. |
| Bifunctional Oxygen Electrodes for PEM-Unitized Regenerative Fuel Cell Fabricated By Inkjet Printing University of Alberta | Publication | 2024-10-22 | Luis Padilla, Jiafei Liu, Semagina, N., Secanell, M. |
| Experimental and Numerical Analysis of Alkaline Exchange Membrane Water ElectrolyzersExperimental and Numerical Analysis of Alkaline Exchange Membrane Water Electrolyzers University of Alberta | Publication | 2024-11-22 | Jake Mouallem, Secanell, M., Jasper Eitzen, Andrea Quintero, Scott Storbakken |
| Exploring the Impact of Cathode Ionomer Content on Alkaline Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells (AEMFCs) Using Inkjet Printing Technique University of Alberta | Publication | 2024-10-22 | Jiafei Liu, Secanell, M. |
| Exploring the impact of ionomer content and distribution on inkjet printed cathodes for anion exchange membrane fuel cellsElectrode composition optimization is critical to achieving high and stable anion exchange membrane fuel cell (AEMFC) performance. In this article, inkjet printing is pioneered as a method to fabricate AEMFC electrodes with varying and graded cathode ionomer loading in order to assess its impact on electrode electrochemical properties, cell performance and stability. Inkjet printed catalyst layers (CLs) exhibited decreasing porosity with increasing ionomer content, maintaining a constant active area at 50 C under fully humidified conditions. The increase in active area and ionic conductivity with increasing ionomer content was detectable only at higher temperatures. At 60 C with 90% relative humidity inlet gases, the AEMFCs with cathode electrodes with optimal 20 wt% uniform ionomer content achieved a highly repeatable and stable performance of 0.53 W/cm2 with a total loading of 0.3 mg/cm2. Grading the cathode ionomer content, with higher concentration near the membrane and lower near the gas diffusion layer (GDL), does not improve cell performance, indicating neither cathode conductivity nor mass transport limits performance. When tested at 80 C, AEMFCs with a graded cathode ionomer structure (30 wt% near the membrane and 20 wt% near the GDL) demonstrated improved stability compared to those with a uniform 20 wt% ionomer content. This stability improvement is attributed to better water retention with more cathode ionomer content, as evidenced by the cell’s ability to maintain low resistance. University of Alberta | Publication | 2025-01-01 | Jiafei Liu, Secanell, M. |
| Structured porous 17-PH stainless steel layer fabrication through laser powder bed fusion University of Alberta | Publication | 2024-01-01 | Shokoufeh Sardarian, Shirin Dehgahi, F Wei, Secanell, M., Qureshi, A. |
