Solution - Alkaline Electrolyzer
Nickel mesh that survives 60,000 hours in 30% KOH.
For alkaline water electrolysis, chlor-alkali production, and industrial electrochemistry. RAS engineers the electrode substrate - woven mesh for catalyst support, knitted mesh for porous transport, nickel wire for current collection - so your coating and your cell perform to specification.
15+
Years electrode fabrication
42
Countries supplied
99.6%
Nickel purity minimum
How it works
From cell drawing to serial supply.
01
Cell audit
Send us your cell geometry, target current density (0.2-0.5 A/cm2), KOH concentration (25-30%), and operating temperature (80-90 C). We map your existing electrode performance against RAS substrate specifications to identify the gap.
02
Weave matching
Our applications team selects the mesh family (woven or knitted), wire diameter (0.025-1.20 mm), and open-area target based on your bubble detachment regime, ohmic resistance budget, and catalyst loading requirements.
03
Qualification & scale
Prototype electrode mesh ships in 3 weeks with full dimensional inspection data. On your approval, we lock the weave recipe and enter serial production with lot-level traceability and EN 10204 3.1 mill certification.
EEAT case study - Failure analysis
An 8 MW AWE stack showing 0.3% voltage drift per month. The substrate was the problem.
A Southeast Asian electrolyzer OEM contacted RAS in 2024 after field data showed progressive cell voltage increase across 14 commissioned stacks. Post-mortem analysis on a returned cathode assembly found grain-boundary carbide precipitation at the wire crossover points. The original nickel mesh had been supplied as Ni200 (0.12% carbon measured) rather than the specified Ni201 low-carbon grade. In 30% KOH at 85 C, the grain-boundary Ni3C precipitates were selectively attacked, creating microscopic corrosion fissures that increased local contact resistance across every wire junction in the electrode.
Root cause
Carbon content above 0.02% in Ni200 wire led to grain-boundary carbide precipitation. Hot KOH selectively dissolved the carbide phase (Ni3C), initiating intergranular corrosion at every wire crossover point - approximately 900 contact points per cm2 of electrode area.
RAS solution
Replaced all electrode substrate with Ni201-grade plain-Dutch weave nickel mesh (60 mesh, 0.19 mm wire, 51% open area, electropolished finish). Ni201 limits carbon to 0.02% maximum, preventing the formation of a continuous grain-boundary carbide network that KOH can attack.
Outcome
18-month follow-up across all 14 stacks: voltage degradation rate reduced from 0.3% to below 0.04% per month. Cell voltage stability restored to within original OEM specification. Customer switched all future stack production to Ni201-grade mesh from RAS.
FAQ
Frequently asked
Ready to spec your electrode mesh?
Send us your cell parameters. Our applications team returns a matched weave recommendation within one business day.