Technology

Electrolyser

Renewable Energy Sources

Renewable energy technology uses readily available energy such as wind, solar and tides to produce electricity from naturally replenishing resources. Renewable energy sources are becoming better understood and commonly implemented.

Electrolyser

An electrolyser splits water into Hydrogen and Oxygen by passing an electrical current through it.

Hydrogen Store

Hydrogen is usually stored in a gas cylinder at various pressures. Hydrogen gas has good energy density by weight but poor energy density by volume versus hydrocarbons, hence it requires a larger cylinder to store. Increasing gas pressure improves the energy density by volume making for smaller cylinders. The required storage pressure is determined by the application requirements.

Fuel Cell

A Fuel Cell is a device that produces electricity by combining a fuel, usually hydrogen, with oxygen. In this reaction, electrons are freed from the hydrogen in the fuel cell by a catalyst, and gain energy from the chemical reaction binding hydrogen and oxygen; this provides a source for electric current. The bi product of this reaction is simply water.

Manufacture

Conventional PEM Materials

The basic molecular structure of conventional PEM materials is a fluorocarbon backbone with sulphonic acid pendant side chains.  The fluorocarbon chains entangle and are not cross-linked.  The sulphonic acid molecules attract water molecules and form clusters through which protons can pass.

ITM PEM Materials

ITM materials are low cost, cross-linked hydrophilic polymers.  They are fabricated by mixing together bulk purchasable liquid monomers, polymerising and cross-linking them together in one process.  The functional properties of the resulting materials can be tuned by making simple changes to the formulation.  For example, one component defines the mechanical properties, another the water uptake.  The ionic moiety can equally be acidic or alkali.  Being cross-linked the materials do not melt when heated and have significantly fewer loose ends available for chemical attack.  Owing to the materials being liquid in the first instance, it is possible to polymerise them into complex shapes and structures.