SYSTEMS AND METHODS OF DECOUPLED HYDROGEN GENERATION USING ENERGY-BEARING REDOX PAIRS

• Main Authors: Shao, Yuyan, Wang, Wei, Lu, Dongping, Huang, Qian
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 20.09.2018
• Subjects: APPARATUS THEREFOR; BASIC ELECTRIC ELEMENTS; CHEMISTRY; ELECTRICITY; ELECTROLYTIC OR ELECTROPHORETIC PROCESSES; ELECTROLYTIC OR ELECTROPHORETIC PROCESSES FOR THE PRODUCTIONOF COMPOUNDS OR NON-METALS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; METALLURGY; PROCESSES OR MEANS, e.g. BATTERIES, FOR THE DIRECT CONVERSIONOF CHEMICAL INTO ELECTRICAL ENERGY; REDUCTION OF GREENHOUSE GAS [GHG] EMISSIONS, RELATED TO ENERGYGENERATION, TRANSMISSION OR DISTRIBUTION; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS; TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINSTCLIMATE CHANGE

Described herein are systems and methods of hydrogen generation and electrolyte regeneration as independent operations in separate redox flow cells. The operations can be decoupled by using an energy-bearing redox pair that electrochemically bears energy facilitating flexible, efficient hydrogen generation. In one example, the hydrogen generation redox flow cell can include a liquid, energy-bearing electrolyte solution in which at least one species of an energy-bearing redox pair is dissolved, to decouple the hydrogen evolution reaction from the reaction at the opposite electrode (e.g., the oxygen evolution reaction of conventional direct water electrolysis). Each species of the energy-bearing redox pair is associated with a standard electrode potential within the water electrolysis window.