Convection and mass transfer near a hydrogen bubble evolving during water electrolysis in magnetic fields

Hydrogen produced from wind or solar power could be used easily for storing energy also at large scale, thus allowing to bridge the gap between supply and demand of renewable energy with respect to time and place. When splitting water by electrolysis, a deeper look at local phenomena near single bubbles at the electrode might be helpful to improve our understanding of this process. In the recent literature, magnetic fields are discussed with respect to the bubble departure, thereby possibly influencing the efficiency of the process [1-5].
The contribution will present numerical simulations resolving in detail local phenomena near a single hydrogen bubble evolving at a small circular cathode during the electrolysis of water. The results are compared with experimental data of hydrogen evolution at a platinum micro-electrode. Hereby, the influence of the Lorentz force caused by vertical and horizontal magnetic fields will be discussed. The results presented will provide insight into electrolyte convection, species concentration, mass transfer and on the bubble departure [6-8].