Probing membrane hydration in microfluidic polymer electrolyte membrane electrolyzers <i>via</i> operando synchrotron Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy
Kevin M. Krause, M. Garcia, Dominique Michau, Gérald Clisson, Brant Billinghurst, Jean‐Luc Battaglia, Stéphane Chevalier
Abstract
synchrotron Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. The PEM water content is directly probed in the operating electrolyzer by measuring the transmitted light intensity at wavelengths around 10 μm. By supplying the electrolyzer with reactant starving flow rates, mass transport driven cell failure is provoked, which coincides with membrane dehydration. Furthermore, higher operating temperatures are observed to improve the stability in membrane hydration through increasing the membrane water uptake. The methods presented here prove the viability of IR techniques for characterizing membrane hydration, and future extension towards imaging and thermography would enable further quantitative studies of internal membrane transport behaviors.