Mass transport limitations in polymer electrolyte water electrolyzers using spatially-resolved current measurement

This work utilizes spatially-resolved current measurements to provide insight into mass transport limitations in electrolyzers that are not observable from traditional polarization measurement. In this study, two types of flow-fields (parallel and triple-serpentine) and two types of diffusion media (patterned porous thin titanium foil LGDLs and Ir-coated titanium felt PTLs) were examined. A non-uniform current distribution dominated by mass transport limitations was observed to be instigated by the restriction of liquid water transport to catalyst sites. Additionally, conditions are revealed which yield similar polarization performance but dissimilar current distributions. In such cases, the transport limitations for different architectures and porous media affect polarization in different regions of the active area. Furthermore, the triple-serpentine flow-field used in this study performs better than the parallel flow-field under mass transport limited operating conditions. This indicates that the parallel flow-field used in this study is more susceptible to starvation than the triple-serpentine flow-field for the electrolyzer studied. • Spatially-resolved current distribution measurements for a PEWE were demonstrated. • Mass transport limitations were investigated for different cell configurations. • Mass transport limitations produced non uniform current distributions. • Parallel flow-fields were more susceptible to starvation than triple-serpentine. • Mass transport and membrane dryout instigated non-uniform current distributions.