IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v15y2024i1d10.1038_s41467-024-54514-5.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Tailoring high-performance bipolar membrane for durable pure water electrolysis

Author

Listed:
  • Weisheng Yu

    (University of Science and Technology of China)

  • Zirui Zhang

    (University of Science and Technology of China)

  • Fen Luo

    (University of Science and Technology of China)

  • Xiaojiang Li

    (University of Science and Technology of China)

  • Fanglin Duan

    (University of Science and Technology of China)

  • Yan Xu

    (University of Science and Technology of China)

  • Zhiru Liu

    (University of Science and Technology of China)

  • Xian Liang

    (University of Science and Technology of China)

  • Yaoming Wang

    (University of Science and Technology of China)

  • Liang Wu

    (University of Science and Technology of China)

  • Tongwen Xu

    (University of Science and Technology of China)

Abstract

Bipolar membrane electrolyzers present an attractive scenario for concurrently optimizing the pH environment required for paired electrode reactions. However, the practicalization of bipolar membranes for water electrolysis has been hindered by their sluggish water dissociation kinetics, poor mass transport, and insufficient interface durability. This study starts with numerical simulations and discloses the limiting factors of monopolar membrane layer engineering. On this foundation, we tailor flexible bipolar membranes (10 ∼ 40 µm) comprising anion and cation exchange layers with an identical poly(terphenyl alkylene) polymeric skeleton. Rapid mass transfer properties and high compatibility of the monopolar membrane layers endow the bipolar membrane with appreciable water dissociation efficiency and long-term stability. Incorporating the bipolar membrane into a flow-cell electrolyzer enables an ampere-level pure water electrolysis with a total voltage of 2.68 V at 1000 mA cm–2, increasing the energy efficiency to twice that of the state-of-the-art commercial BPM. Furthermore, the bipolar membrane realizes a durability of 1000 h at high current densities of 300 ∼ 500 mA cm–2 with negligible performance decay.

Suggested Citation

  • Weisheng Yu & Zirui Zhang & Fen Luo & Xiaojiang Li & Fanglin Duan & Yan Xu & Zhiru Liu & Xian Liang & Yaoming Wang & Liang Wu & Tongwen Xu, 2024. "Tailoring high-performance bipolar membrane for durable pure water electrolysis," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-12, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:15:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-024-54514-5
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-54514-5
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-54514-5
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-024-54514-5?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lihaokun Chen & Qiucheng Xu & Sebastian Z. Oener & Kevin Fabrizio & Shannon W. Boettcher, 2022. "Design principles for water dissociation catalysts in high-performance bipolar membranes," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-10, December.
    2. Muhammad A. Shehzad & Aqsa Yasmin & Xiaolin Ge & Zijuan Ge & Kaiyu Zhang & Xian Liang & Jianjun Zhang & Geng Li & Xinle Xiao & Bin Jiang & Liang Wu & Tongwen Xu, 2021. "Shielded goethite catalyst that enables fast water dissociation in bipolar membranes," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-13, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ziang Xu & Lei Wan & Yiwen Liao & Maobin Pang & Qin Xu & Peican Wang & Baoguo Wang, 2023. "Continuous ammonia electrosynthesis using physically interlocked bipolar membrane at 1000 mA cm−2," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-13, December.
    2. Xiaojie She & Lingling Zhai & Yifei Wang & Pei Xiong & Molly Meng-Jung Li & Tai-Sing Wu & Man Chung Wong & Xuyun Guo & Zhihang Xu & Huaming Li & Hui Xu & Ye Zhu & Shik Chi Edman Tsang & Shu Ping Lau, 2024. "Pure-water-fed, electrocatalytic CO2 reduction to ethylene beyond 1,000 h stability at 10 A," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 9(1), pages 81-91, January.
    3. He, Mingzhi & Nie, Gongzhe & Yang, Haoran & Li, Binghui & Zhou, Shuhan & Wang, Xiongzheng & Meng, Xin, 2024. "A generic equivalent circuit model for PEM electrolyzer with multi-timescale and stages under multi-mode control," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 359(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:15:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-024-54514-5. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.