CEA/Liten is a research organization on new energies. It offers a PhD on the production of green hydrogen by electrolysis of water using a new technology. The 3 types of water electrolysis to produce hydrogen from electricity are: high temperature electrolysis, low temperature alkaline electrolysis, low temperature PEM electrolysis (proton exchange membrane). All these types of electrolysis have their advantages and disadvantages. Very recently, a new type of electrolysis was born: low temperature electrolysis with AEM membrane (OH- anion exchange). It is a compromise between PEM and alkaline electrolysis to benefit from the advantages of these 2 technologies. First prototypes of such a device exist at the CEA and are studied at the cell or stack scale but the mechanisms involved in the electrochemical and chemical reactions at smaller scales within the electrodes are still poorly understood. In particular, the interactions (ion exchanges, ionic potentials) between the ionomer of the active layer, the membrane and the solution of water and diluted KOH are poorly understood. The objective of the thesis is 1/ to study these mechanisms and to quantify them by developing elementary experiments then, 2/ to model them and implement these models in an existing in-house electrolyzer code and finally 3/ to simulate polarization curves to validate all the models of the code including those developed by the doctoral student.
This thesis will span 2 laboratories: an experimental laboratory and a simulation laboratory in which the student will find all the skills necessary to achieve these objectives. This thesis is linked to several projects involving people from the CEA and other French university laboratories. The student will therefore be in a working environment where this theme is booming.
The candidate is required to have good knowledge of electrochemistry and polymer chemistry and to have notions of modeling and use of software such as Comsol.