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DOE OSTI · 3376754

Anion-exchange membrane water electrolysis: insights from round-robin testing

Kreider, Melissa E. [National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR), Golden, CO (United States)]·Rojas Mendoza, B. Milenia [Stanford University, CA (United States); SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States)]·Brusse, Luke [Versogen, Newark, DE (United States)]·Syar, Duha [University of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)]·Kwak, Minkyoung [University of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)]·Yang, Patrick [University of California, Irvine, CA (United States)]·Chang, Hung-Ming Joseph [University of California, Irvine, CA (United States)]·Hannagan, Ryan T. [Stanford University, CA (United States)]·Amador, Isabela Rios [Stanford University, CA (United States); SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States)]·Ekennia, Anthony C. [University of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)]·Oliveira, Nicholas J. [Nel Hydrogen, Wallingford, CT (United States)]·Nielander, Adam C. [SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States)]·Boettcher, Shannon W. [University of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)]·Zenyuk, Iryna V. [University of California, Irvine, CA (United States)]·Jaramillo, Thomas F. [Stanford University, CA (United States); SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States)]·Alia, Shaun M. [National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR), Golden, CO (United States)]·Lakshmanan, Balasubramanian [Versogen, Newark, DE (United States)]
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Abstract

As research and industrial interest in anion-exchange membrane water electrolysis (AEMWE) grows, there is an increasing need for reliable baselines and cross-lab validation of results. The wide variety of material sets and operating conditions under consideration for AEMWE has thus far limited efforts for standardization. In this study, round-robin testing was conducted in deionized water and KOH-based supporting electrolyte by 5 institutions from academia, national laboratories, and industry to provide baseline performance data and identify sources of cross-lab variability. Baseline membrane electrode assemblies were fabricated with commercial catalysts, membranes, and transport layers using standard techniques and tested using reagent-grade electrolytes, aiming for accessibility rather than state-of-the-art performance. From all tests, the average voltage at 1 A/cm 2 was 2.72 ± 0.17 V and 1.87 ± 0.03 V in deionized water and 0.1 M KOH, respectively. The maximum in-house and cross-lab variations at this current density were 118 mV and 476 mV in water and 60 and 88 mV in 0.1 M KOH. The KOH purity, station contamination, and temperature control were identified as possible factors affecting performance between labs, with in-house specific variation attributed to sample-to-sample differences in fabrication, cell assembly, and station contamination. This work provides a commercial baseline for the field and highlights the need for improved standardization and reproducibility in AEMWE research.

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Kreider, Melissa E. [National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR), Golden, CO (United States)], Rojas Mendoza, B. Milenia [Stanford University, CA (United States); SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States)], Brusse, Luke [Versogen, Newark, DE (United States)], Syar, Duha [University of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)], Kwak, Minkyoung [University of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)], Yang, Patrick [University of California, Irvine, CA (United States)], Chang, Hung-Ming Joseph [University of California, Irvine, CA (United States)], Hannagan, Ryan T. [Stanford University, CA (United States)], Amador, Isabela Rios [Stanford University, CA (United States); SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States)], Ekennia, Anthony C. [University of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)], Oliveira, Nicholas J. [Nel Hydrogen, Wallingford, CT (United States)], Nielander, Adam C. [SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States)], Boettcher, Shannon W. [University of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)], Zenyuk, Iryna V. [University of California, Irvine, CA (United States)], Jaramillo, Thomas F. [Stanford University, CA (United States); SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States)], Alia, Shaun M. [National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR), Golden, CO (United States)], Lakshmanan, Balasubramanian [Versogen, Newark, DE (United States)]. 2026-06-11. Anion-exchange membrane water electrolysis: insights from round-robin testing. https://doi.org/10.3389/fenrg.2026.1794912

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