Liliana Analia Diaz

• Doctor in Science and Technology Chemistry
• Senior Researcher at CIIAE

It is critical to minimize the cost of materials and inputs used in hydrogen production and to create solutions for large-scale generation to reduce the cost of hydrogen produced. Seawater is a natural low-cost electrolyte with high Na⁺ and Cl⁻ concentrations, among other soluble salts. Chloride ions allow a highly corrosive media to the materials...

We report the influence of duty cycle in the range 30-70%, on NiMo alloys prepared on 316 L stainless steel/Ni by pulsed electrodeposition and the characterization of their composition, morphology, and electrocatalytic activity towards hydrogen evolution reaction in alkaline medium. The morphology and Mo content were affected by varying the duty cy...

The hydrogen generation by electrolysis from seawater is one of the most promising processes for this fuel production, avoiding the use of highly dangerous KOH solution as electrolyte. There are many problems associated with this process, such as the low electrochemical efficiency and the high corrosion capacity of chloride ions present in seawater...

Conventional alkaline electrolyzers used for water splitting can considerably increase their efficiency upon modification of the surface of the electrode. Here we present in operando evidence of activation of a conventional alkaline electrolyzer using nickel electrodes modified by spontaneous deposition of ruthenium (1 × 10⁻⁵ M in 30% w/v KOH elect...

Nowadays, massive NiMo alloys are considered highly active catalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in industrial alkaline electrolysers. Thus, it is desirable to study other alternative materials, preserving the specific properties of these alloys. In this study, a NiMo coating on 316L stainless steel with high resistance to the corrosi...

Alkaline water electrolysis is a versatile technology for hydrogen production in situ. In this work, we study two different electrodeposited Ni-Mo alloys, with good electrocatalytic activity to hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). We propose Ni as substrate avoiding the corrosion and electrolyte contamination problem derived from eventual coating fai...

The preparation and characterization of membranes of poly[2,5-benzimidazole] (ABPBI) by spray casting at room temperature from an ethanol solution is described. The prepared membranes doped with 11 M H3PO4 sorbed 1.5 molecules of acid per imidazole ring exhibiting a proton conductivity of 0.05 S · cm⁻¹ at 153◦C. The 80 μm thick, homogeneous, membra...

We developed an innovative polymer blend system composed of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and polybenzimidazole as an anionic membrane for application to zero gap alkaline electrolysers. The challenge was to combine PVA with either poly[2-2’-(m-phenylene)-5-5’-bibenzimidazole] (PBI) or poly (2,5-benzimidazole) (ABPBI) to complement these neutral polymers...

Phosphoric acid doped ABPBI (poly [2,5-benzimidazole]) membranes were prepared with a new low temperature casting procedure (ABPBI-ET), and their water uptake and proton conductivity were measured. The results were compared with those of ABPBI casted at high temperature (ABPBI-MSA), poly [2-2′-(m-phenylene)-5-5′ bibenzimidazole] (PBI), and commerci...

Methanol permeability in phosphoric acid-doped membranes based in poly[2,2′-(m-phenylene)-5,5′-bibenzimidazole] (PBI) and poly[2,5-benzimidazole] (ABPBI), prepared by two different casting procedures, were measured using a diffusion cell in the temperature range from 20 to 90 °C, along with the electrical conductivity at 30 and 60 °C. The permeabil...

Phosphoric acid-doped membranes based in poly[2,5-benzimidazole] (ABPBI) were obtained by a new low temperature casting procedure and by the classical high temperature casting from methanesulfonic acid. These membranes, which can be suitable for application in direct methanol proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells, were studied in relation with...