Experimental study on the influence of clamping pressure on proton exchange membrane water electrolyzer (PEMWE) cell’s characteristics

Energy transition can be led by more hydrogen production. Hydrogen offers a clean, sustainable, and flexible option for overcoming different obstacles that face the low-carbon economy [1]. PEMWE is one of the most promising candidate technologies to produce hydrogen from renewable energy sources. PEMWE cell splits water into hydrogen and oxygen when an electric current is passed through it. Electrical current forces the positively charged ions to migrate to negatively charged cathode, where hydrogen is reduced. Meanwhile, oxygen is produced at the anode side electrode and escapes as a gas with the circulating water. In the recent few years, PEMWE’s R&D has inched towards; operating conditions; such as increased operating temperature and cathode-anode high differential pressure operation, flow field design, stack development, and numerical modelling [2,3]. In this work the effect of clamping pressure on the PEMWE cell characteristics’; performance, conductivity, hydrogen and water cross-over through the membrane electrode assembly (MEA) is studied. A 50 cm2 active area PEMWE cell with double serpentine flow field channels for the anode and cathode side is used. Measurements are carried out at constant cell temperature (70°C) and atmospheric pressure. Early results for IV curve predict that the PEMWE cell performance increases with increasing the clamping pressure at fixed temperature and current density. This can be elucidated by the EIS measurements which predict an increment in ohmic and activation resistance at lower clamping pressure values at the same temperature and current density. Furthermore, early results have not shown any significant change in the amount of hydrogen crossing-over from cathode to anode and water from anode to cathode. This might be attributed to the membrane properties which might not be changed significantly with changing the clamping pressure.