It has been technologically challenging to create an anion-exchange membrane water electrolyzer (AEMWE) that can operate efficiently without liquid electrolytes, that is, in pure water. Prior improvements in AEMWE have been limited to the development of membranes and catalysts. Here, we report an alternative solution to increase the AEMWE performance from a different perspective by developing highly conductive, macroporous layers (MPLs) as multifunctional liquid/gasdiffusion layers (LGDLs).
The
production of green hydrogen by a cost-effective electrolysis
technology is of paramount importance for future energy supply systems.
In this regard, proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolysis is the
technology of choice due to its compactness and high efficiency; however,
its dependence on the scarce iridium catalyst jeopardizes the deployment
at large scale. Here, we present a low-cost electrolyzer consisting
of an assembly of an anion exchange membrane (AEM) and plasma-sprayed
electrodes without any precious metals. Several electrode materials
are developed and tested in this configuration at 60 °C and feeding
1 M KOH electrolyte. The AEM electrolyzer with NiAlMo electrodes can
achieve a potential of 2.086 V at a current density of 2 A cm–2, which is comparable to the performances of industrial
MW-size PEM electrolyzers. The cell potential with NiAl anode and
NiAlMo cathode is 0.4 V higher at the same current density, but it
keeps a stable operation for more than 150 h. Through different post-mortem
analyses on the aged electrodes, the degradation mechanism of NiAlMo
anode is elucidated. The efficiencies of the developed AEM electrolyzer
concept reported herein are close to those of the commercial PEM systems,
and thus a cost-effective alternative to this technology is provided
based on our results.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.