Bubble-free Capillary-fed Water Electrolysis

The cost of environmentally-friendly ôgreenö hydrogen, crucial in the United States plan for a sustainable and equitable energy future, is too high (i.e., $5 per kilogram of hydrogen) to be an economically viable alternative to fossil fuels. State-of-the-art technologies to product green hydrogen via water electrolysis are typically 75-85% efficient in energy utilization. The overarching goal of this Phase I program is to demonstrate highly efficient water electrolysis at 98% efficiency. Additionally, this program will evaluate the potential for scaling hydrogen production while maintaining high efficiency to demonstrate commercial viability. These foundational experiments are critical in establishing a pathway (Phase II and beyond) for cheap hydrogen production at a levelized cost of $1 per kilogram. The work in the Phase I program will develop a novel operational methodology for efficient water electrolysis via bubble-free capillary-fed production of hydrogen. This technical approach will demonstrate efficiency improvements and potential for scalability that will be utilized in Phase II to build a multi-cell electrolyzer. The development of a highly-efficient bubble-free capillary-fed electrolyzer will offer a superb opportunity for meeting global hydrogen demands and offer an economically competitive pathway for decarbonization of various markets through green hydrogen integration/adaptation. Furthermore, the demonstration of bubble-free operation will also establish a techno-economic foundation for other electrochemical technologies (i.e., ammonia production, carbon dioxide removal) that produce gas bubbles as byproducts.