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Comparative study of alkaline water electrolysis, proton exchange membrane water electrolysis and solid oxide electrolysis through multiphysics modeling

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  • Hu, Kewei
  • Fang, Jiakun
  • Ai, Xiaomeng
  • Huang, Danji
  • Zhong, Zhiyao
  • Yang, Xiaobo
  • Wang, Lei

Abstract

This paper provides a comparative study of alkaline water electrolysis (AE), proton exchange membrane water electrolysis (PEM) and solid oxide electrolysis cells (SOEC) through multiphysics modeling. A unified multiphysics model for the three types of electrolyzers, considering current density distribution, single-phase and diphasic flow, mass transfer and temperature dependence in the electrolyzers, is derived to make a thorough interpretation of their differences in terms of I-V characteristics, cell efficiency and part-load performances. Besides, various definitions of electrolysis efficiency from different researches on PtH are compared and evaluated from thermodynamics to unify the definitions of efficiency. Main drawbacks of the cell performances are then reviewed respectively to explain the parametric gap among three types of water electrolysis.

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  • Hu, Kewei & Fang, Jiakun & Ai, Xiaomeng & Huang, Danji & Zhong, Zhiyao & Yang, Xiaobo & Wang, Lei, 2022. "Comparative study of alkaline water electrolysis, proton exchange membrane water electrolysis and solid oxide electrolysis through multiphysics modeling," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 312(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:312:y:2022:i:c:s0306261922002367
    DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2022.118788
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    1. Takaya Ogawa & Mizutomo Takeuchi & Yuya Kajikawa, 2018. "Analysis of Trends and Emerging Technologies in Water Electrolysis Research Based on a Computational Method: A Comparison with Fuel Cell Research," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-24, February.
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    Cited by:

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    13. Ana-Maria Chirosca & Eugen Rusu & Viorel Minzu, 2024. "Green Hydrogen—Production and Storage Methods: Current Status and Future Directions," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(23), pages 1-27, November.
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    16. del Pozo Gonzalez, Hector & Bernadet, Lucile & Torrell, Marc & Bianchi, Fernando D. & Tarancón, Albert & Gomis-Bellmunt, Oriol & Dominguez-Garcia, Jose Luis, 2023. "Power transition cycles of reversible solid oxide cells and its impacts on microgrids," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 352(C).
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    18. Mohsen Fallah Vostakola & Hasan Ozcan & Rami S. El-Emam & Bahman Amini Horri, 2023. "Recent Advances in High-Temperature Steam Electrolysis with Solid Oxide Electrolysers for Green Hydrogen Production," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(8), pages 1-50, April.

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