Overvoltage reduction in membrane Bunsen reaction for hydrogen production by using a radiation-grafted cation exchange membrane and porous Au anode

Sawada, Shinichi*; Kimura, Takehiro*; Nishijima, Haruyuki*; Kodaira, Takahide*; Tanaka, Nobuyuki ; Kubo, Shinji  ; Imabayashi, Shinichiro*; Nomura, Mikihiro*; Yamaki, Tetsuya*

An electrochemical membrane Bunsen reaction using a cation exchange membrane (CEM) is a key to achieving an iodine-sulfur (IS) thermochemical water splitting process for mass-production of hydrogen. In this study, we prepared both the radiation-grafted CEM with a high ion exchange capacity (IEC) and the highly-porous Au-electroplated anode, and then used them for the membrane Bunsen reaction to reduce the cell overvoltage. The high-IEC grafted CEM exhibited low resistivity for proton transport, while the porous Au anode had a large effective surface area for anodic SO oxidation reaction. As a result, the cell overvoltage for the membrane Bunsen reaction was significantly reduced to 0.21 V at 200 mA/cm, which was only one-third of that of the previous test using the commercial CEM and non-porous anode. From the analysis of the current-voltage characteristics, employment of the grafted CEM was found to be more effective for the overvoltage reduction compared to the porous Au anode.