Insights into the rapid two-phase transport dynamics in different structured porous transport layers of water electrolyzers through high-speed visualization

Weitian Wang; Shule Yu; Kui Li; Lei Ding; Zhiqiang Xie; Yifan Li; Gaoqiang Yang; David A. Cullen; Haoran Yu; Zhenye Kang; Jacob A. Wrubel; Zhiwen Ma; Guido Bender; Christopher B. Capuano; Alex Keane; Feng Yuan Zhang

doi:10.1016/j.jpowsour.2021.230641

Insights into the rapid two-phase transport dynamics in different structured porous transport layers of water electrolyzers through high-speed visualization

Weitian Wang, Shule Yu, Kui Li, Lei Ding, Zhiqiang Xie, Yifan Li, Gaoqiang Yang, David A. Cullen, Haoran Yu, Zhenye Kang, Jacob A. Wrubel, Zhiwen Ma, Guido Bender, Christopher B. Capuano, Alex Keane, Feng Yuan Zhang

Materials MicroAnalysis

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

54 Scopus citations

Abstract

In proton exchange membrane electrolyzer cells (PEMECs), maintaining efficient two-phase transport is one of the most important functions of porous transport layers (PTLs). To enhance the two-phase transport in PTLs, thin/titanium liquid/gas diffusion layers (TT-LGDLs) are introduced in PEMECs, and their difference from the conventional Ti felt PTLs are analyzed in-situ through high-speed and microscale visualization and electrochemical characterizations. The visualization results show that unfavorable large slugs can be greatly reduced in the PEMEC with a TT-LGDL compared to the PEMEC with a Ti felt PTL. More importantly, the recovery capability of water starvation with different PTLs is studied. After water starvation, the PEMEC with the TT-LGDL can recover the water starvation much more rapidly than the Ti felt cell, benefiting from its short and straight-through flow paths. Furthermore, the TT-LGDL tends to generate oxygen bubbles that are almost six times smaller and 236 times more frequently than the Ti felt PTL, indicating significantly boosted removal efficiency of produced oxygen and PEMEC performance. This study offers new insights into the dynamic processes of two-phase transport and the recovery capability of water starvation for different PTLs, which will provide valuable guidance for further optimization of PTLs and performance enhancement of PEMECs.

Original language	English
Article number	230641
Journal	Journal of Power Sources
Volume	516
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpowsour.2021.230641
State	Published - Dec 31 2021

Funding

The authors greatly appreciate the support from U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) under the Fuel Cell Technologies Office Award Number DE-EE0008426 and DE-EE0008423 . A portion of the research was performed as part of a user project through Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, which is a U.S. DOE Office of Science User Facility, and by instrumentation provided by the U.S. DOE Office of Nuclear Energy, Fuel Cycle R&D Program, and the Nuclear Science User Facilities. The authors also wish to express their appreciation to Alexander Terekhov, Douglas Warnberg, and Dr. Brian Canfield for their help.

Funders	Funder number
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Science
Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office	DE-EE0008423, DE-EE0008426

Keywords

Bubble removal
Hydrogen energy
PEM electrolyzer
Porous transport layer
Two-phase flow
Visualization

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1016/j.jpowsour.2021.230641

Cite this

Wang, W., Yu, S., Li, K., Ding, L., Xie, Z., Li, Y., Yang, G., Cullen, D. A., Yu, H., Kang, Z., Wrubel, J. A., Ma, Z., Bender, G., Capuano, C. B., Keane, A., & Zhang, F. Y. (2021). Insights into the rapid two-phase transport dynamics in different structured porous transport layers of water electrolyzers through high-speed visualization. Journal of Power Sources, 516, Article 230641. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpowsour.2021.230641

@article{2e915674fd1c45cab75ea26d3c23dc8d,

title = "Insights into the rapid two-phase transport dynamics in different structured porous transport layers of water electrolyzers through high-speed visualization",

abstract = "In proton exchange membrane electrolyzer cells (PEMECs), maintaining efficient two-phase transport is one of the most important functions of porous transport layers (PTLs). To enhance the two-phase transport in PTLs, thin/titanium liquid/gas diffusion layers (TT-LGDLs) are introduced in PEMECs, and their difference from the conventional Ti felt PTLs are analyzed in-situ through high-speed and microscale visualization and electrochemical characterizations. The visualization results show that unfavorable large slugs can be greatly reduced in the PEMEC with a TT-LGDL compared to the PEMEC with a Ti felt PTL. More importantly, the recovery capability of water starvation with different PTLs is studied. After water starvation, the PEMEC with the TT-LGDL can recover the water starvation much more rapidly than the Ti felt cell, benefiting from its short and straight-through flow paths. Furthermore, the TT-LGDL tends to generate oxygen bubbles that are almost six times smaller and 236 times more frequently than the Ti felt PTL, indicating significantly boosted removal efficiency of produced oxygen and PEMEC performance. This study offers new insights into the dynamic processes of two-phase transport and the recovery capability of water starvation for different PTLs, which will provide valuable guidance for further optimization of PTLs and performance enhancement of PEMECs.",

keywords = "Bubble removal, Hydrogen energy, PEM electrolyzer, Porous transport layer, Two-phase flow, Visualization",

author = "Weitian Wang and Shule Yu and Kui Li and Lei Ding and Zhiqiang Xie and Yifan Li and Gaoqiang Yang and Cullen, {David A.} and Haoran Yu and Zhenye Kang and Wrubel, {Jacob A.} and Zhiwen Ma and Guido Bender and Capuano, {Christopher B.} and Alex Keane and Zhang, {Feng Yuan}",

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year = "2021",

month = dec,

day = "31",

doi = "10.1016/j.jpowsour.2021.230641",

language = "English",

volume = "516",

journal = "Journal of Power Sources",

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Wang, W, Yu, S, Li, K, Ding, L, Xie, Z, Li, Y, Yang, G, Cullen, DA , Yu, H, Kang, Z, Wrubel, JA, Ma, Z, Bender, G, Capuano, CB, Keane, A & Zhang, FY 2021, 'Insights into the rapid two-phase transport dynamics in different structured porous transport layers of water electrolyzers through high-speed visualization', Journal of Power Sources, vol. 516, 230641. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpowsour.2021.230641

TY - JOUR

T1 - Insights into the rapid two-phase transport dynamics in different structured porous transport layers of water electrolyzers through high-speed visualization

AU - Wang, Weitian

AU - Yu, Shule

AU - Li, Kui

AU - Ding, Lei

AU - Xie, Zhiqiang

AU - Li, Yifan

AU - Yang, Gaoqiang

AU - Cullen, David A.

AU - Yu, Haoran

AU - Kang, Zhenye

AU - Wrubel, Jacob A.

AU - Ma, Zhiwen

AU - Bender, Guido

AU - Capuano, Christopher B.

AU - Keane, Alex

AU - Zhang, Feng Yuan

PY - 2021/12/31

Y1 - 2021/12/31

N2 - In proton exchange membrane electrolyzer cells (PEMECs), maintaining efficient two-phase transport is one of the most important functions of porous transport layers (PTLs). To enhance the two-phase transport in PTLs, thin/titanium liquid/gas diffusion layers (TT-LGDLs) are introduced in PEMECs, and their difference from the conventional Ti felt PTLs are analyzed in-situ through high-speed and microscale visualization and electrochemical characterizations. The visualization results show that unfavorable large slugs can be greatly reduced in the PEMEC with a TT-LGDL compared to the PEMEC with a Ti felt PTL. More importantly, the recovery capability of water starvation with different PTLs is studied. After water starvation, the PEMEC with the TT-LGDL can recover the water starvation much more rapidly than the Ti felt cell, benefiting from its short and straight-through flow paths. Furthermore, the TT-LGDL tends to generate oxygen bubbles that are almost six times smaller and 236 times more frequently than the Ti felt PTL, indicating significantly boosted removal efficiency of produced oxygen and PEMEC performance. This study offers new insights into the dynamic processes of two-phase transport and the recovery capability of water starvation for different PTLs, which will provide valuable guidance for further optimization of PTLs and performance enhancement of PEMECs.

AB - In proton exchange membrane electrolyzer cells (PEMECs), maintaining efficient two-phase transport is one of the most important functions of porous transport layers (PTLs). To enhance the two-phase transport in PTLs, thin/titanium liquid/gas diffusion layers (TT-LGDLs) are introduced in PEMECs, and their difference from the conventional Ti felt PTLs are analyzed in-situ through high-speed and microscale visualization and electrochemical characterizations. The visualization results show that unfavorable large slugs can be greatly reduced in the PEMEC with a TT-LGDL compared to the PEMEC with a Ti felt PTL. More importantly, the recovery capability of water starvation with different PTLs is studied. After water starvation, the PEMEC with the TT-LGDL can recover the water starvation much more rapidly than the Ti felt cell, benefiting from its short and straight-through flow paths. Furthermore, the TT-LGDL tends to generate oxygen bubbles that are almost six times smaller and 236 times more frequently than the Ti felt PTL, indicating significantly boosted removal efficiency of produced oxygen and PEMEC performance. This study offers new insights into the dynamic processes of two-phase transport and the recovery capability of water starvation for different PTLs, which will provide valuable guidance for further optimization of PTLs and performance enhancement of PEMECs.

KW - Bubble removal

KW - Hydrogen energy

KW - PEM electrolyzer

KW - Porous transport layer

KW - Two-phase flow

KW - Visualization

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85117861997&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.jpowsour.2021.230641

DO - 10.1016/j.jpowsour.2021.230641

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85117861997

SN - 0378-7753

VL - 516

JO - Journal of Power Sources

JF - Journal of Power Sources

M1 - 230641

ER -

Insights into the rapid two-phase transport dynamics in different structured porous transport layers of water electrolyzers through high-speed visualization

Abstract

Funding

Keywords

UN SDGs

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