Abstract
The utilization of renewable energy has substantially driven more attention into electrolysis technologies. In this scenario, water electrolysis device can be considered as a means of storing energy chemically rather than electronically like batteries. Furthermore, the establishment of H2@scale consortium has presented renewable H2 unprecedented opportunities toward multiple industrial and transport applications. However, current hydrogen production from electrolysis comprises only a small fraction of the global hydrogen market due to its high costs. Anion exchange membrane water electrolysis (AEMWE) enables to use non-precious metal catalyst as the catalysts for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). However, the performance of state-of–the art AMWE is still inferior to its count part of proton exchange membrane water electrolysis (PEMWE).
The performance loss of AEMWE has been analyzed using different experiment design, which includes catalyst, ionomer, electrode configuration and operating conditions. In particular, commercial anion exchange membrane and ionomer have been compared with advanced materials by our multiple collaborators. Reversible fuel cell operations and addition of diluted salts or bases can also be used to pinpoint the sources of AEMWE performance loss. Based on the performance analysis, the following strategies can be used to improve the performance of AEMWE. First, anion exchange membrane and ionomer with high oxidative resistance will be adopted. These chemically and electrochemically stable materials will provided a better platform to test the OER or HER catalyst to enable alkaline membrane electrolysis operation. Second, an optimal interaction between the ionomer and the catalyst in the electrode will be established.