Electrocatalysts are nanomaterials of paramount importance within water electrolyzers, because they facilitate the electron transfer between reactants and electrode, enabling the chemical transformation of water into hydrogen and oxygen. In this Perspective, recent findings in electrocatalyst development for the next generation of polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) water electrolyzers at scale are discussed. We discuss opportunities to create catalyst architectures, the importance to demonstrate electrode manufacturing tools, and how useful advanced characterization methods shall, in the short term, allow large-scale deployment of water splitting devices with higher efficiency, acceptable durability, and low cost. We envision next-generation PEM cells permitting a transformational change in the chemical industry by the manufacturing of low-cost hydrogen.

The synthesis, structure, and physicochemical characterization of two diamond-like semiconductors are reported. Both compounds display second harmonic generation, bandgaps around 2 eV and wide windows of optical transparency in the infrared.

While X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD) is a fundamental analytical technique used by solid-state laboratories across a breadth of disciplines, it is still underrepresented in most undergraduate curricula. In this work, we incorporate XRPD analysis into an inquiry-based project that requires students to identify the crystalline component(s) of familiar household products. Centering the project on materials which students encounter in their everyday lives helps to demystify the technique, making it accessible to everyone with a basic understanding of crystallinity and unit cells. In an XRPD study, each crystalline component generates a unique set of peaks in the diffractogram. Comparing the collected diffractogram to a library of diffractograms for known crystalline materials allows students to identify the crystalline components in their unknown. Students must determine for themselves the chemical compositions of the possible unknowns, and link their findings back to the analysis of the collected data. Initially challenging, this is the part of the work they respond to most strongly. This lab includes a data collection component, but its inquiry-based objectives can still be achieved by providing the students with simulated diffractograms when the appropriate instrumentation is unavailable.

Post-operation component disassembly and observation of electrolyzer parts is useful in understanding the interactions of the components and the electrochemical environment beyond the systems electrochemical output. We report a standard protocol for post-operation component disassembly and observation, including directions for cell-component preservation, preliminary visual inspection of cell components, and a guide for the advanced inspection of specific components with suggestions for further analysis if necessary. The procedures outlined here allow for a standardized method that can be used and compared between different laboratories and for literature comparison to experimental results.

The crystal structure of the chalcogenide compounds CuCo 2 InTe 4 and CuNi 2 InTe 4 , two new members of the I-II 2 -III-VI 4 family, were characterized by Rietveld refinement using X-ray powder diffraction data. Both materials crystallize in the tetragonal space group I4 2m (No. 121), Z = 2, with a stannite-type structure, with the binaries CoTe and NiTe as secondary phases.