Alkaline water electrolyzis with perfluorinated cation-selective membrane

The replacement of diaphragm by membrane is one of the ways to intensify process of alkaline water electrolysis. This approach was chosen for the present work. Important novelty in this work represents application of cation-selective membrane Nafion((R)) as a polymer electrolyte and separator in one. Its great stability (in comparison with currently available anion-selective membranes) is the main advantage of this approach. On the other hand, this approach has some disadvantages. The most important one is the high membrane cost and lower mobility of alkaline metals ions in the Nafion((R)) membrane when compared to the proton in the PEM and hydroxyl ion in the alkaline process. Results comparable to the industrial alkaline water electrolyzers were observed.