Article | REF: J4810 V2

Proton Exchange Membrane water electrolysis

Author: Pierre MILLET

Publication date: October 10, 2025 | Lire en français

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1. Foundations

Water electrolysis is an electrochemical process that breaks down water into its two constituent elements, molecular hydrogen and oxygen (dihydrogen and dioxygen), under the action of an electric current. This phenomenon is based on fundamental principles of thermodynamics and kinetics.

The principles in question are described in this section in order to provide readers with the information necessary to understand the underlying mechanisms of water electrolysis.

History

English chemists Anthony Carlisle (1768-1840) and William Nicholson (1753-1813) are generally credited with the discovery of water electrolysis (1800), although controversy arose during Volta's bicentennial in 1999, revealing that the Dutch chemists Adriaan Paets van Troostwijk (1752-1837)...

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