Hydrogen Extraction from 0.1% H2-He Mixture: The Interplay Phenomena of Electrode, Temperature, and Voltage in BZYN & BZCYYb

Hydrogen pumps, crafted from proton-conductive ceramic electrolyte and paired with either oxide or metallic electrodes, have been designed for the extraction of hydrogen isotopes from helium gas mixtures containing 0.1% hydrogen isotopes, particularly within the context of TES for nuclear fusion reactors. This study presents the electrochemical hydrogen permeation research conducted on the perovskite proton conductor materials BaZr_0.1Ce_0.7Y_0.1Yb_0.1O_3-δ (BZCYYb) and BaZr_0.8Y_0.16Ni_0.04O_3-δ (BZYN) under these operational conditions. It was observed that nickel electrodes provided superior performance over SrFe_0.8Mo_0.2O_3-δ (SFM) electrodes in terms of hydrogen extraction efficiency. Hydrogen pumps that integrated BZCYYb as the electrolyte with nickel electrodes showed enhanced efficiency, while those utilizing BZYN as the electrolyte coupled with nickel electrodes demonstrated greater stability. Furthermore, the study explored the voltammetric nonlinearity at low hydrogen concentrations and the dependency of concentration polarization efficiency on both voltage and temperature, aiming to establish optimal conditions that balance stability and efficiency for both types of hydrogen pumps.