H+ Conductivity for Fuel Cell Electrolyzers
AssigneeForge Nano, Inc.
InventorsMatthew WEIMER, Sara HARRIS, Arrelaine DAMERON
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Abstract
A doped silica layer on a substrate comprises a substrate and a doped silica layer that has a thickness of 5 to 1000 nm, and a dopant:silicon atomic ratio of 0.5:99.5 to 15:85. The dopant is preferably P+5. The invention includes an electrolyzer comprising the doped silica layer and a method of electrolyzing water to produce hydrogen using the electrolyzer. The doped silica can be made by applying a silica layer by atomic layer deposition (ALD) and treating the silica layer with a phosphorus gas in which phosphorus is in the +3 valence state.
Claims20
An electrolyzer, comprising:
- an anode, a cathode, and a doped silica electrolyte layer;
- wherein the anode and the cathode separated by one μm or less;
- wherein the anode and the cathode are separated by the doped silica electrolyte layer;
- wherein the doped silica electrolyte layer has:
- a thickness of 5 to 1000 nm;
- a dopant:silicon atomic ratio of 0.1:99.5 to 15:85;
- and one or any combination of the following room temperature properties:
- a H+ permeability (cm2/s)≥5×10−11;
- a H+ conductivity of at least 0.5 mS/cm, or at least 1.0 mS/cm, or in the range of 0.5 to 5 mS/cm, or in the range of 1.0 to 4 mS/cm;
- an H2 permeability of 8×10−11 cm2/s or less;
- or
- a vanadium ion permeability of 1×10−8 cm2/min or less.
A doped silica layer on a substrate, comprising:
- the substrate;
- and
- the doped silica layer that has:
- a thickness of 5 to 1000 nm;
- a dopant:silicon atomic ratio of 0.1:99.5 to 15:85
- wherein the dopant is P+5.
A method of making a doped silica layer on a substrate, comprising:
- providing a substrate;
- applying a silica layer by CRISP ALD on the substrate;
- and
- treating the silica layer with a phosphorus-gas in which phosphorus is in the +3 oxidation state.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.