Hydrogen Production by Using Composite Membrane (Nafion/Al2O3) in PEM Water Electrolysis

In the present study, Nafion/Al2O3 composite membrane is prepared and evaluated as electrolytes in PEM water electrolysis. A composite membrane is obtained by mixing 5Wt % Nafion which have a SO3H group as a proton conductor with inorganic material (Al2O3), using casting method. In addition, by using adequate catalysts, the performance of prepared Composite membrane has been tested using in-house fabricated single cell PEM water electrolysis cell with 10cm2 active area at different temperatures and at 1 atmosphere pressure by varying voltage range from 1.7-3.2V with respect to hydrogen yield and at current density 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, and 0.5 (A cm-2). Experiments have shown that 99.9 % purity of hydrogen Gas is evolved, and also the fabricated composite membrane have shown the significant improvement of all tested properties compared to that of pure Nafion115 membrane. The physicochemical properties of the composite membranes such as water uptake, ion-exchange capacity, X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and Gas Chromatography is determined.