Comparing Membranes for Proton Exchange Membrane Water Electrolysis: Performance, Stability and Hydrogen Crossover

The supply of Nafion and Aquivion proton exchange membranes is currently severely constrained, prompting a search for alternatives. In this work, a new commercial proton exchange membrane (PFSA D170-U) was evaluated and compared with two other membranes: Nafion™ N117 and Aquivion® E98-15S. The performance, stability over 100 h, and H2 crossover characteristics of these three membranes were investigated in a flow cell electrolyser by testing each membrane type in triplicate using a fresh sample of membrane for each experimental run. At 60 °C, the three membranes showed an average performance of 1 A cm–2 at 2.0 V and an average degradation rate of 1.2 mV h–1 after stability tests for 100 h at a fixed current density of 1.0 A cm–2. The three membranes showed similar metrics, suggesting that PFSA D170-U is a promising proton exchange membrane alternative to Nafion and Aquivion membranes for research purposes. Additionally, the physical, morphological, structural, thermal and mechanical properties of the PFSA D170-U membrane were examined.

当前Nafion与Aquivion质子交换膜（proton exchange membrane）的供应面临严重制约，亟需探寻替代膜材。本研究针对一款新型商用PFSA D170-U型质子交换膜展开评估，并与另外两款膜材——Nafion™ N117与Aquivion® E98-15S——进行对比。本研究通过在流动电解池中开展实验，对三款膜材的性能、100小时稳定性以及氢气交叉渗透特性进行考察；每种膜材均设置三次重复实验，每次实验均采用全新膜样品。在60℃工况下，三款膜材在2.0V电压下的平均电流密度可达1 A·cm⁻²；在固定电流密度1.0 A·cm⁻²下开展100小时稳定性测试后，其平均降解速率为1.2 mV·h⁻¹。三款膜材的各项测试指标较为接近，表明PFSA D170-U可作为Nafion与Aquivion膜材的极具潜力替代品，适用于相关研究工作。此外，本研究还对PFSA D170-U膜材的物理、形貌、结构、热学与力学性能进行了表征分析。