Effects of the marine atmosphere on the components of an alkaline water electrolysis cell for hydrogen production

The use of off-shore renewable energy sources can be an adequate strategy to produce hydrogen using water electrolysis, particularly in the marine sector. However, the marine atmospheric conditions are very hostile and corrosive, which can affect the materials of an electrolyzer. Among the different electrolysis technologies, alkaline water electrolysis is optimal for large scale hydrogen production because it is an economic and mature technology. In an alkaline electrolysis cell, the electrodes and the separator are the most critical elements to be analyzed under marine atmospheric conditions due to their great influence on the overpotentials and the efficiency. The present research aims to advance in the study of these effects in order to analyze the influence of marine conditions on the performance of an electrolyzer. For this purpose, the components of an alkaline electrolysis cell have been exposed to a salt spray test. According to the results obtained the materials do not show any morphological or compositional change after the salt spray test. This also happens with the polarization curve and the hydrogen production efficiency. So, alkaline water electrolysis technology can be adequate to work under the environmental conditions that take place in off-shore applications.