Water and CO2 Electrolysis: Understanding Ion transport

Water and CO2 Electrolysis paves the way for clean storage for renewable and green energy/electricity. Water electrolysis being a well developed technology lays the groundwork for designing the CO2 electrolysers. In the recent years the research focus has, however, shifted from proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolysers to anion exchange membrane (AEM) electrolysers, as AEM based electrolysers were reported to show high faradic efficiency for CO2 reduction. That being said, the practical operation of the anion exchange membranes (AEMs) used in these electrolysers has been influenced by the co-ion cross overs. Therefore, IEM permselectivity play a pivotal role in designing such electrolysers and electrochemical separation devices such as fuel cells, flow batteries, electrodialysis, reverse electrodialysis, electrosynthesis etc.
The role of an IEM in these electrolysers is to permit preferential transport of counter-ions through the polymer matrix. This preferential transport phenomenon is often characterized by a counter-ion transport numbers and permselectivity values. Permselectivity of counter-ions is an important specification required while designing the efficient ion exchange membranes (IEMs) for novel technologies. Several factors including ion exchange capacity (IEC), membrane thickness, polymer morphology etc. influence the ion transport behaviour of an ion exchange membranes in electrolyte solutions.

Faculty Supervisor:

Steven Holdcroft

Student:

Partner:

Indian Institute of Technology Bombay

Discipline:

Physics

Sector:

Education

University:

Simon Fraser University

Program: