Active Clean Energy Chemistry

Development of electrocatalysts and membrane electrode assembly for energy conversion and storage

Funder EPSRC (part of UKRI)
Recipient organisation Imperial College London
Funding Not disclosed
Period Sept 2025 — Sept 2028

In plain English

AI plain-English summary

A new type of membrane splits water into acid and base on demand, using only an electric field and a catalyst layer sandwiched between two charged polymer sheets. Bipolar membranes (BPMs) already exist, but they are inefficient and degrade quickly. The problem is that the catalyst layer—which drives water molecules to split into hydrogen and hydroxide ions—does not integrate well with the surrounding membranes, slowing reactions and wasting energy. This PhD project will design and test new materials for both the membranes and the catalyst layer, aiming to make the entire assembly faster, more stable, and more conductive. If successful, these improved BPMs could make several industrial processes cheaper and more practical. They could be used in electrodialysis to recover acids and bases from waste streams, in electrolysers to produce hydrogen fuel more efficiently, and in novel acid-base flow batteries for grid-scale energy storage. The work is applied and directly targets device performance, with collaboration from industrial partners who would manufacture and test the membranes. The project does not claim to solve climate change on its own, but it addresses a specific engineering bottleneck that currently limits a family of clean-energy technologies.

View original technical description
Bipolar membranes (BPMs) are a versatile technology with the ability to drive water dissociation and ion transport, making them valuable for applications in energy storage, carbon capture, and water treatment. BPMs consist of a cation exchange membrane, an anion exchange membrane, and a catalyst layer between the two. This composite membrane enables water dissociation where an applied electric field can drive H+ and OH- ions out of the BPM in opposite directions. The pH gradient developed by the BPM's water dissociation and ion transport enables chemical reactions that would otherwise require extreme conditions. Julian's PhD project aims to develop high-performance BPMs by integration of membranes and water dessociation catalysts, and explore their broad applications in energy processes. The project will investigate new materials including CEM membranes, AEM membranes, and water dessociation catalysts, which will be integrated together to achieve efficient transport water and ions, as well as fast reaction kinetics. This project builds on the latest development of cation and anion exchange membranes with high ion conductivity, high permselectivity, and good stability. The project will explore the broad applications of BPMs in emerging energy processes, such as bipolar membrane electrodialysis, electrolysis, acid-base flow batteries. The project will involve collaboration with various industrial partners.

View the original record at the funder ↗

Researchers

Julian Black (Student)

Related Research

Grants with similar aims, by meaning.

Investigation of Practical Electro-catalysis using the Floating Electrode
Hydrogen from Seawater Electrolysis
Mixed cation- and anion-exchange hybrid membranes for use in fuel cells, redox flow batteries and electrodialysis cells
In situ TEM for understanding the electrochemical performance of iridium based catalysts
Water dissociation interfaces for high current density bipolar membrane electrolysers

Original classification

Studentship

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