ELECTROLYSIS
An electrolyser processes water to produce hydrogen and oxygen. The latter is used by astronauts to breath, for example in a space station. An electrolyser cell is a sandwich of two electrodes on the outside, with the electrolyte in the middle, fixed in a porous material. After water is fed through a membrane and becomes water vapor, it goes through the porous electrode into the electrolyte, driven by the concentration gradient between the water and the electrolyte.
When an electric current is forced to pass through an electrolyte or electrolyte solution, chemical reactions take place both at the anode and at the cathode. Applying a direct current between the two electrodes decomposes the water into hydrogen (cathode) and oxygen (anode). The production of gases can be increased by connecting more cells in parallel.
A sizable supply of lunar ice would provide half of the necessary elements a photovoltaic electrolyser would need to begin the process. Solar energy caught on the edge of a nearby crater would provide the electricity.
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