KEPCO Journal on Electric Power and Energy

Korea Electric Power Corporation (한국전력공사)
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Developing High-Performance Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Electrolytic Cell for Green Hydrogen Production

그린수소 생산을 위한 고성능 고분자 전해질막 전해조 개발 연구

  • Choi, Baeck Beom (KEPCO Research Institute, Korea Electric Power Corporation) ;
  • Jo, Jae Hyeon (KEPCO Research Institute, Korea Electric Power Corporation) ;
  • Lee, Yae Rin (Department of Energy Engineering, Kyungpook National University) ;
  • Kim, Jungsuk (KEPCO Research Institute, Korea Electric Power Corporation) ;
  • Lee, Taehee (KEPCO Research Institute, Korea Electric Power Corporation) ;
  • Jeon, Sang-Yun (KEPCO Research Institute, Korea Electric Power Corporation) ;
  • Yoo, Young-Sung (KEPCO Research Institute, Korea Electric Power Corporation)
  • Received : 2020.12.17
  • Accepted : 2021.02.01
  • Published : 2021.06.30
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Abstract

As an electrochemical water electrolysis for green hydrogen production, both polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) and alkaline electrolyte are being developed extensively in various countries. The PEM electrolyzer with high current density (above 2 A/cm2) has the advantage of being able to design a simple structure. Also, it is known that it has high response to electrical output fluctuations. However, the cost problem of major components is the most important issue that a PEM electrolyzer must overcome. Instantly, there are platinum group metal (PGM)-based electrocatalysts, fluorine-based polyfluoro sulfuric acid (PFSA) membrane, Ti felt (porous transport layer, PTL) and so on. Another challenging issue is productivity. A securing outstanding productivity brings price benefits of the electrolytic cells. From this point of view, we conducted basic studies on manufacturing electrode and membrane electrode assembly (MEA) for PEM electrolyzer production.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

This research was supported by the Korea Institute of Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning funded by the Korea government MOTIE (2019281010007A)

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