Motivated by the need to lower the cost of hydrogen (H₂) production by water electrolysis, significant research efforts are focused on making proton (H⁺) exchange membrane (PEM) water electrolyzers more efficient and capable of operating at higher current densities. These aims can be met by making H⁺-conducting membranes thinner, which has the effect of lowering ohmic drops across the membrane that represent the largest efficiency loss at high current densities (>2 A cm^–2). However, decreasing membrane thickness below 50 μm is not trivial due to trade-offs between membrane resistance, H₂ crossover (safety), membrane degradation, and manufacturing throughput. Herein, descriptions of key processes, limitations, and trade-offs that arise in thin membranes are provided that can be used to guide the design of ultrathin (i.e., submicron thick), low-resistance membrane materials that have the potential to transform the field of clean H₂ production.

中文翻译：

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你能降到多低？用于高效水电解的纳米级膜

由于需要降低水电解制氢 (H ₂ ) 的成本，大量研究工作集中在使质子 (H ⁺ ) 交换膜 (PEM) 水电解槽更加高效并能够在更高的电流密度下运行。这些目标可以通过使 H ⁺传导膜更薄来实现，这具有降低膜上欧姆压降的效果，欧姆压降代表高电流密度 (>2 A cm ^–2 ) 下的最大效率损失。然而，由于膜电阻、H ₂交叉（安全性）、膜降解和制造产量之间的权衡，将膜厚度减小到 50 μm 以下并非微不足道。本文提供了薄膜中出现的关键工艺、限制和权衡的描述，可用于指导超薄（即亚微米厚）、低电阻膜材料的设计，这些材料有可能改变该领域清洁H ₂生产。