In recent years, energy engineers have been working on a wide range of technologies that could help to generate and store electrical power more sustainably. These include electrolyzers, devices that could use electricity sourced via photovoltaics, wind turbines or other energy technologies to split water (H2O) into hydrogen (H2) and oxygen (O2), via a process known as electrolysis.
The hydrogen produced by electrolyzers could in turn be used in fuel cells, devices that convert the chemical energy in hydrogen into electricity without combustion and could be used to power trucks, buses, forklifts and various other heavy vehicles, or could provide back-up power for hospitals, data centers and other facilities.
Many recently designed electrolyzers prompt the splitting of water into hydrogen using a proton exchange membrane (PEM), a membrane that selectively allows protons (H+) to pass through, while blocking gases.