A study of the loss characteristics of a single cell PEM electrolyser for pure hydrogen production

In this paper the losses of a proton exchange membrane (PEM) single cell electrolyser were investigated. The ohmic, activation and mass transfer losses are the most prominent losses in a PEM electrolyser. The Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) method was applied to identify these losses. A parametric study of each loss component was performed by changing a component or condition responsible for the loss. The membrane thickness was varied in the Membrane Electrode Assembly (MEA) to identify the ohmic loss and the temperature was changed to capture the activation loss. Two different diffusion media were used to investigate the mass transfer effect. The results were confirmed with polarisation curves and Tafel plots.