Proceedings of MATSUS23 & Sustainable Technology Forum València (STECH23) (MATSUS23)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.29363/nanoge.matsus.2023.161
Publication date: 22nd December 2022
The talk presents an approach to use metal foams as electrodes in the next generation of alkaline electrolyzers.
Sustainable hydrogen production is one of the main topics to fight the climate crisis. The technology of alkaline electrochemical water splitting has in principle reached a mature industrialization level. On the other hand, it is still based mostly on very simple materials and precious metal catalyst developed decades ago.
Next to the electrochemical performance there are additional requirements for an easy and efficient assembly process to make hydrogen by electrolysis competitive to the conventional fossil fuel based routes. We want to add a new dimension to alkaline electrolysis by designing electrodes with 3-dimensional nickel foams.
Therefore, we considered the various and partially competing requirements and combined these into an innovative electrode setup. We want to reduce the precious metal content by 100 % utilizing an optimal electrode structure. Additionally we can reduce the number of components for stack manufacturing regarding the single cell compartment by over 60 % by adding a design suitable for serial production.