Acid membrane water electrolyzers

Water electrolysis produces high-purity hydrogen and oxygen, traditionally used in various industrial sectors such as the food industry, the semiconductor industry, and space and underwater applications. But in today's energy context, the increasing scarcity of fossil fuels and the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions have led to renewed interest in the electrolytic production of hydrogen (an energy carrier) from renewable energy sources (see "Hydrogen fuel. Production" [BE 8 565] ). Despite still high investment costs, due to the use of noble metal-based electrocatalysts, acid membrane technology (better known by its acronym PEM: "proton exchange membrane") offers clear advantages over alkaline technology, even though the latter is more mature in industrial terms. In particular, the absence of corrosive liquid electrolyte makes it possible to design reliable electrolyzers operating at high pressure and high current density, with energy efficiencies in excess of 80%.