果冻传媒

I am a doctoral candidate in Thijs de Groot鈥檚 Electrochemical Engineering group. Here, I conduct research on hydrogen crossover in alkaline water electrolysis.

Green hydrogen is a CO2-free energy carrier: when it is burned, only water is released. It can be made when renewable electricity is applied to water. A chemical reaction then occurs, known as electrolysis, where a water molecule is split into hydrogen and oxygen. In Prinsen鈥檚 research, the focus lies on alkaline water electrolysis (AWE), with a solution of KOH as the electrolyte.

The AWE process contains some caveats, however. Alongside hydrogen, oxygen is produced. While oxygen is needed in later stages for the combustion of hydrogen, these two gases should not mix in the reactor itself, as this gas mixture can be explosive. Unfortunately, electrochemical restrains dictate that these gases are produced in each other鈥檚 immediate vicinity. A thin separator prevents their mixing, but this separator is not perfect. Consequently, some amount of the gases can cross over to the other side. My research focuses on developing a thorough understanding of this crossover phenomenon, and developing ways to mitigate it. With the measures developed, hydrogen can eventually be produced safely from renewable electricity.