Experimental study on porous current collectors of PEM electrolyzers

Experimental study on proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzer was carried out focusing on the effect of pore structural properties of current collectors, such as porosity and pore diameter. Various titanium (Ti)-felt substrates with different porosities and pore diameters (measured by capillary flow porometry) were used as the anode current collector. Results show that when the mean pore diameter of the current collector was larger than 10 μm, the electrolysis performance improved with decreasing pore diameter. In contrast, changes in porosity had no significant effect on the cell performance when the porosity exceeded 0.50. The flow pattern of two-phase flow in the flow channel was discussed in terms of its relationship to bubble size and to pore diameter of the current collector. Finally, correlation between the calculated membrane resistance and the measured pore diameter of the current collectors suggest that larger bubbles generated from larger pores tend to become long bubbles in the channel, thus hindering the water supply to the membrane.

► Polymer electrolyte membrane electrolyzer was investigated experimentally.
► The effect of structural properties of anode current collector has been studied.
► Flow pattern of two-phase flow in the channel has been discussed.
► Pore diameter of the current collector is crucial parameter for the performance.