Recent Advancement on Anion Exchange Membranes for Fuel Cell and Water Electrolysis

Abstract

Highly conductive anion exchange membranes (AEMs) are one of the few requirements to produce high power during fuel cell operation and for efficient hydrogen production through water electrolysis. The use of chemically stable and cheap AEMs with platinum group metal (PGM)‐free catalysts is suitable for reducing the overall cost of hydrogen production and fuel cell operation. The in situ durability of anion exchange membrane fuel cells (AEMFCs) and anion exchange membrane water electrolyzers (AEMWEs) for several hundred hours is necessary for the widespread application of fuel cell and water electrolysis technologies. This Minireview highlights the best results reported recently in alkaline membrane fuel cells and water electrolysis. The achievable AEMFCs performances are noteworthy using Pt‐free anode and cathode electrocatalysts. Remarkable durability in AEMFCs is witnessed, although the durability is a concern for AEMWEs. Moreover, the current challenges and future directions of AEMFCs and AEMWEs are briefly summarized.

Atomic Co decorated free-standing graphene electrode assembly for efficient hydrogen peroxide production in acid

“…6–11 Moreover, producing acidic H 2 O 2 in electrolysers can effectively bypass the utilization of poorly conductive and unstable anion exchange membranes (as compared with cation exchange membranes), such that can speed up the deployment of the flow reactor technology for large-scale synthesis. 12,13 Thus, further development of active and selective electrocatalysts that can deliver high H 2 O 2 productivity in acids is of paramount significance.…”

Increasing the performance of an anion-exchange membrane electrolyzer operating in pure water with a nickel-based microporous layer

“…Up to the present, research efforts have been primarily focused on the development of conductive membranes/ionomers and active catalysts to improve the overall performance of the AEMWE. [27][28][29][30][31][32][33]51,52 However, there is a lack of information on optimization of other cell components of AEMWE in order to improve its performance. In particular, designing a novel multifunctional conductive MPL mounted on the PTL is one area where further improvement of AEMWE performance might be found.…”

Highly Efficient Bipolar Membrane CO2 Electrolysis

“…[7] However, the problems with low ionic conductivity and poor alkaline stability are systematically addressed with the development of recent AEMs. [8][9][10] In cation exchange membrane (CEM), the acidic environment increases the rate of competing hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) over the formation of desired products by CO 2 RR. [11] Hence, it is necessary to maintain significantly different local pH environments at each electrode.…”

“…In anion exchange membrane (AEM), the problems with high product crossover, poor CO 2 utilization, and low ionic conductivity in comparison to CEM prevent the widespread adoption of AEMs for CO 2 RR [7] . However, the problems with low ionic conductivity and poor alkaline stability are systematically addressed with the development of recent AEMs [8–10] . In cation exchange membrane (CEM), the acidic environment increases the rate of competing hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) over the formation of desired products by CO 2 RR [11] .…”