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Study on ultrasonic-accelerated degradation strategies for
composite membranes in alkaline water electrolysis

Authors： ZOU Peng1, DONG Zhongmin1, LIAN Wenshui1, LIU Zhan1， ZOU Yongling2, LI Yangyang3, ZHOU Xianjie2

Units： 1. School of mechanical and automation engineering，Guangdong Provincial Engineering Technology Research Center for Advanced Motorcycle Design and Manufacturing，Jiangmen Key Laboratory of Intelligent Manufacturing for Polymer Materials，Wuyi University， Jiangmen 529020，China； 2. School of intelligent manufacturing and equipment，Jiangmen Polytechnic，Jiangmen 529090，China； 3. State Key Laboratory of Automotive Safety and Energy，Tsinghua University，Beijing 100084，China

KeyWords： alkaline water electrolysis; composite membrane; durability testing; ultrasonic cavitation effect; accelerated aging method

ClassificationCode：TQ028.8； TK91

year,volume(issue):pagination： 2025,45(4):152-161

Abstract：

Aiming at the long cycle and high cost of durability testing of composite membranes, this study proposed a non-in situ accelerated aging method for polysulfone-zirconia composite membranes based on the ultrasonic cavitation effect with the aim of establishing a rapid assessment of the degradation of their performance. The actual decay process was simulated by modulating the ultrasonic power (0~100 W), which was combined with microscopic characterization, hydrogen concentration in oxygen (HTO) and pore size analysis to reveal the accelerated mechanism of ultrasonic power on the degradation of the membrane. The results showed that low power ultrasonic (20~60 W) mainly triggered the detachment of ZrO2 and PSf skeleton in the form of fragmentation, resulting in a gentle increase in HTO and membrane degradation, which corresponded to the stable stage of the early stage of in-situ degradation; while the high power ultrasonic (80~100 W) induced the fracture of PSf skeleton and the formation of through-hole, which resulted in the sudden decrease of gas barrier performance and the sharp increase of HTO, which was consistent with the performance of drop in the late stage of in-situ degradation. Pearson correlation analysis showed that the correlation coefficient between the ultrasonic acceleration data and the actual degradation data was 0.973, which was a strong correlation, and the degradation process of 3 200 hours required by the traditional test could be shortened to less than 1 hour, which was a fast and effective way to reproduce the characteristics of the multi-stage of composite membrane degradation in actual use.

Funds：

江门市基础与理论科学研究类科技计划项目（2024030001680011415）

AuthorIntro：

邹鹏（1993-），男，湖南娄底人，讲师，博士，从事智能储能装备研究、水电解制氢隔膜制备

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