We report high-performance, durable alkaline membrane water electrolysis in a solid-state cell. An anion exchange membrane (AEM) and catalyst layer ionomer for hydroxide ion conduction were used without the addition of liquid electrolyte. At 50 °C, an AEM electrolysis cell using iridium oxide as the anode catalyst and Pt black as the cathode catalyst exhibited a current density of 399 mA/cm(2) at 1.80 V. We found that the durability of the AEM-based electrolysis cell could be improved by incorporating a highly durable ionomer in the catalyst layer and optimizing the water feed configuration. We demonstrated an AEM-based electrolysis cell with a lifetime of >535 h. These first-time results of water electrolysis in a solid-state membrane cell are promising for low-cost, scalable hydrogen production.

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Raman microspectroscopy was used to gather spatially resolved chemical information on the carbon and poly(tetrafluoroethylene) (PTFE) distribution of fuel cell gas diffusion layers (GDL). GDLs with varying PTFE content were imaged over areas of 1,000 μm × 1,000 μm and it was found that the distribution of concentrated PTFE regions on the surface of the GDLs and morphology of the carbon fibre paper was readily observed. Spectroscopic measurements with point‐by‐point resolutions varying between 10 and 500 μm were performed on samples having 1.8–44 wt.% PTFE before and after the PTFE was sintered. The average PTFE signal detected on the surface of the GDLs increased monotonically for both unsintered and sintered GDLs with increasing bulk PTFE loading. The unsintered GDLs had higher PTFE signals on their surface compared to sintered GDLs and showed more concentrated PTFE regions in the mapping experiments.

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