Proton exchange membrane-based electrochemical devices have been growing in commercial relevance, from fuel cells for automotive and other vehicle applications to hydrogen production and energy storage applications. These membranes are highly versatile, able to operate with both vapor and liquid feed systems, different cation conductors, and with different redox chemistries such as for flow batteries. This talk will focus on electrolyzer advancements in PEM systems and related synergies with flow batteries and CO₂ electrolysis, which each share an electrode with water electrolyzers.

Renewable hydrogen generation is a key enabler for decarbonization. The need for a sustainable source of hydrogen has been widely recognized: carbon dioxide re-utilization requires hydrogen to make useful chemicals, and ammonia production is one of the largest industrial demands for hydrogen. Over 95% of hydrogen is currently made from fossil fuels, generating CO₂ as a byproduct; this reality needs to change in order to reach sustainability. Currently, the only commercial options for hydrogen production from water are alkaline electrolysis and PEM electrolysis, which will need to be leveraged to make impact in the near term before less mature technologies like solid oxide electrolysis become viable at scale. PEM technology has considerable opportunity for cost reduction and performance improvement, based on many years of research and development in the related PEM fuel cells.

To accelerate this progress in a still emerging market, enlarging the field by working in similar technology areas is helpful. Flow battery research based on hydrogen cells, such as hydrogen halide and hydrogen iron batteries, can validate low catalyst loadings for the hydrogen evolution electrode, and advance coatings for hydrogen embrittlement resistance. Similarly, carbon dioxide electrolysis involves reduction of carbon dioxide on one electrode, but splitting water to evolve oxygen at the other. As another area of research gaining significant interest, CO₂ electrolysis can help enable advanced porous transport layer development and oxygen evolution catalyst advancements, and eventually help drive component volumes. In this talk, opportunities and progress benefitting these technologies will be discussed.