Research Projects

In recent years, the accelerating impacts of climate change and the urgent need to reduce reliance on fossil fuels have emerged as critical challenges for establishing a sustainable global energy system [1]. This urgency has spurred significant interest in the development of clean, renewable, and sustainable alternatives to energy. Among these, hydrogen has been identified as a highly promising zero-carbon energy carrier, offering high gravimetric energy density and the potential to complement intermittent renewable energy sources while meeting growing energy demands [2]. Water electrolysis powered by renewable energy is a feasible and environmentally benign approach to producing green hydrogen (H₂) with zero carbon emissions. Globally, governments, academic researchers, and industries are increasingly prioritizing the large-scale deployment of green hydrogen technologies [3]. However, a major barrier to its widespread adoption remains the high cost associated with the infrastructure and materials required to produce high-purity hydrogen via conventional electrolysis methods. Currently, alkaline water electrolysis and polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) electrolysis are the dominant commercial technologies. Both rely on a membrane to separate the anode and cathode compartments, preventing gas crossover while facilitating ionic transport [4]. Although membranes are critical to system performance, they are expensive, susceptible to fouling and degradation, contribute to higher internal resistance, and often require noble metal catalysts. Moreover, membrane-based systems typically involve complex membrane electrode assembly (MEA) architectures with multiple costly components such as bipolar plates, spacers, and specialized catalysts [5]. These factors substantially raise the overall cost and limit scalability. To overcome these limitations, membraneless electrolyzers (MEs) have been explored as a simpler and potentially more cost-effective alternative. These systems rely on hydrodynamic flow, buoyancy effects, or interfacial forces to keep the generated gases separated without requiring a physical membrane [6, 7]. MEs allow greater flexibility in pH operating conditions and make it feasible to use abundant, non-precious metal catalysts [8]. However, despite these advantages, MEs still face challenges such as gas crossover and bubble-induced blockage of ion transport pathways, which result in increased overpotentials and reduced gas evolution efficiency. In response to these challenges, this proposal introduces a Rotating Electrode Membraneless Electrolyzer (REME) as an innovative design to enhance green hydrogen production efficiency while maintaining low system complexity and cost. The REME leverages the centrifugal force generated by rotating mesh electrodes to dislodge gas bubbles from the electrode surface, thereby improving mass transfer, expanding the reactive surface area, and mitigating bubble-induced resistance. Additionally, a cylindrical separator is integrated to minimize gas crossover between the anode and cathode compartments. The REME system utilizes low-cost mesh-type nickel electrodes electrodeposited with cobalt salts as the anode, and stainless-steel electrodes modified with nickel salts as the cathode. This material selection ensures economic feasibility while maintaining electrochemical performance. The entire system is designed to be powered by solar energy, further enhancing its sustainability and alignment with green energy goals. To date, there is no reported study in the literature demonstrating the use of such a REME configuration for green hydrogen production. Therefore, this project addresses a critical gap by developing and evaluating a scalable, low-cost, and durable membraneless electrolyzer system that can contribute significantly to the global hydrogen economy and the broader objective of a decarbonized energy future.