Mechanism of critical current density in water electrolysis utilizing analogous relation with critical heat flux at boiling system

Mechanism of critical current density in water electrolysis utilizing analogous relation with critical heat flux at boiling system | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Mechanism of critical current density in water electrolysis utilizing analogous relation with critical heat flux at boiling system Haekyun Park This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-4340550/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 15 Jan, 2025 Read the published version in Korean Journal of Chemical Engineering → Version 1 posted 4 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract The boiling and hydrogen evolving systems both exhibit an N-shaped curve, which includes the peak point representing the critical heat flux (CHF) in boiling system and the critical current density (CCD) in hydrogen evolving system. Since the CCD can be regarded as a maximum manageable current density, it would be an obstacle limiting the hydrogen generation rate in a water electrolysis. However, none of previous work proposed a mechanism leading to the CCD and tried to establish a correlation so far. In the nuclear industry, tremendous efforts have been invested to develop the CHF model so that the correlations were developed, which predict the CHF well. Based on the analogous relation between the two systems, the present study explores compatibility of the CHF correlation to the CCD phenomenon. The critical superficial velocity converted from the CHF correlation was compared with that from the measured CCD. The result shows that the critical superficial velocity from the experiment was about 100 times smaller than that from the CHF correlation due to the remarkably higher active nucleation site density of the hydrogen evolving system. In a phenomenological perspective, the critical number of bubbles, which hinders the heat or mass transfer was estimated within similar value between the two systems. It is concluded that the CCD phenomenon is governed by the hydrodynamic behavior of the bubbles adjacent to the cathode surface, which depends strongly on the active nucleation site density, while the CHF can be predicted only by the physical properties of the fluid. Heat and mass transfer analogy Critical current density Critical heat flux models Active nucleation site density Critical number of bubbles Full Text Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 15 Jan, 2025 Read the published version in Korean Journal of Chemical Engineering → Version 1 posted Reviewers agreed at journal 06 May, 2024 Reviewers invited by journal 02 May, 2024 Editor assigned by journal 02 May, 2024 First submitted to journal 28 Apr, 2024 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-4340550","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":298174595,"identity":"9cd306f4-8a14-4777-a348-2a91df3d4263","order_by":0,"name":"Haekyun Park","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAuklEQVRIiWNgGAWjYBACAx4wZWMA5ScQrSWNdC2HSdBiznPGTLpwx3ljc4kExg8/GNLyCWqx7O0xk5555raZ5YwEZskehhzLBoIOO89jJs3bdtvG4EYCgzQDQ4UBIR0wLedAWph/E6flbA9IywEzoBY2oC05RGg5c6zYmvdMsrHBmYdtlj0GacRoSd54m3eHneGG48mHb/yoSCashYGBw4CBsQHEAJHEaGBgYH8A1TIKRsEoGAWjAAcAAJ8xNs8RsWISAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9120-0483","institution":"Kyungpook National University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Haekyun","middleName":"","lastName":"Park","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2024-04-29 06:09:17","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4340550/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4340550/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[{"content":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11814-025-00385-5","type":"published","date":"2025-01-15T15:57:25+00:00"}],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":74284599,"identity":"0626edfa-4d0a-415b-aaa1-0d923e1b88e5","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-01-20 16:09:25","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":671420,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"ManuscriptKJCE.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-4340550/v1_covered_c8ea5c95-ccf2-4a38-aa8b-4b22ba080559.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"","formattedTitle":"Mechanism of critical current density in water electrolysis utilizing analogous relation with critical heat flux at boiling system","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":true,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":true,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"korean-journal-of-chemical-engineering","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"kjce","sideBox":"Learn more about [Korean Journal of Chemical Engineering](http://link.springer.com/journal/11814)","snPcode":"11814","submissionUrl":"https://www.editorialmanager.com/kjce/default2.aspx","title":"Korean Journal of Chemical Engineering","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"em","reportingPortfolio":"Springer Subscription","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false},"keywords":"Heat and mass transfer analogy, Critical current density, Critical heat flux models, Active nucleation site density, Critical number of bubbles","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4340550/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4340550/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eThe boiling and hydrogen evolving systems both exhibit an N-shaped curve, which includes the peak point representing the critical heat flux (CHF) in boiling system and the critical current density (CCD) in hydrogen evolving system. 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