Materials Research Institute succeeded in developing waste alkali anion exchange membrane water electrolysis technology

The research team led by Dr. Yang Joo-chan and Dr. Choi Seung-mok of the Green Hydrogen Materials Laboratory of the Korea Institute of Materials Science (hereinafter referred to as the Materials Research Institute), a government-funded research institute under the Ministry of Science and ICT, developed a high-performance non-precious metal catalyst/electrode material and used it as waste alkali water By applying it to the seawater system, it succeeded in developing the waste alkali anion exchange membrane water electrolysis technology based on non-precious metals for the first time in Korea. Anion exchange membrane water electrolysis is an ideal technology that combines the advantages of using non-noble metal-based electrodes of conventional alkaline water electrolysis technology with the ease of operation and simplicity of cation exchange membrane water electrolysis technology. It can be said to be a next-generation water electrolysis system that can obtain high-purity hydrogen along with improved economic feasibility of green hydrogen production. Research on water electrolysis, a green hydrogen production method, has been using purified water-based electrolytes so far. An average of 9 tons of purified water is required to produce 1 ton of hydrogen by water electrolysis. To obtain 9 tons of purified water, about twice as much water is required. As such, green hydrogen production requires a huge amount of water in addition to the electricity required for electrolysis, so the cost related to the water used is also an important factor in determining price competitiveness. Waste alkali is defined as strong alkaline waste with a pH of 12.5 or higher, and emissions are increasing every year due to the explosive demand for semiconductors and the development of the electronics industry. The research team applied the key source materials and components of water electrolysis, which directly uses waste alkali as an electrolyte, to a unit cell that mimics a commercial system. First of all, in order to secure the activity and durability of non-noble metal catalysts at the same time, a composite catalyst with a high-conductivity carbon layer uniformly coated on the catalyst surface was developed. The catalyst showed high uniformity even in the electrodeization process, and showed about 2.8 times better activity and high durability compared to conventional electrodes in the anion exchange membrane water electrolysis unit cell evaluation. The research team applied this technology to a waste alkali electrolyte-based water electrolysis unit cell to achieve a high current density of 1,420 mA/cm2 (non-precious metal application, 2V standard), and showed improved durability even at a current density that can smoothly produce hydrogen. confirmed that As a result, through the analysis of metal ions present in waste alkali, it was revealed that the increased electrolyte ion conductivity improved the water electrolysis performance. Senior researcher Choi Seung-mok (Head of Green Hydrogen Materials Research Division), who is in charge of the project, said, "If this technology is commercialized, it will be able to be used immediately in the existing alkali-based water electrolysis system , enabling mass production and entry into the hydrogen production market." This research achievement was supported by the Ministry of Science and ICT, and was supported by Korea Material Research Institute's main project 'Development of high-durability electrodes and evaluation technology for AEM water electrolysis for green hydrogen production' and '2.5 for hydrogen production', a material parts technology development project of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. It was carried out through 'development of high-performance catalyst electrodes for kW-class waste alkali AEM water electrolysis and componentization technology'. Read the most up to date Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Industry news at FuelCellsWorks In addition, the research results were published in 'Journal of Materials Chemistry A (IF=14.511, 1st author: Doctoral course researcher Jeong Jae-yeop, Dr. Park Yoo-se (currently professor at Chungbuk National University)', a renowned international journal in the field of materials energy) on November 10 published by date. Currently, the research team is conducting follow-up research for the application and commercialization of the waste alkali water electrolysis stack system through large-area uniform electrodes.

Korea's First Development of Water Electrolysis Technology to Produce Hydrogen From Discarded Seawater