Three-Electrode Study of Electrochemical Ionomer Degradation Relevant to Anion-Exchange-Membrane Water Electrolyzers.

Among existing water electrolysis (WE) technologies, anion-exchange-membrane water electrolyzers (AEMWEs) show promise for low-cost operation enabled by the basic solid-polymer electrolyte used to conduct hydroxide ions. The basic environment within the electrolyzer, in principle, allows the use of non-platinum-group metal catalysts and less-expensive cell components compared to acidic-membrane systems. Nevertheless, AEMWEs are still underdeveloped, and the degradation and failure modes are not well understood.

Performance and Durability of Pure-Water-Fed Anion Exchange Membrane Electrolyzers Using Baseline Materials and Operation.

Water electrolysis powered by renewable electricity produces green hydrogen and oxygen gas, which can be used for energy, fertilizer, and industrial applications and thus displace fossil fuels. Pure-water anion-exchange-membrane (AEM) electrolyzers in principle offer the advantages of commercialized proton-exchange-membrane systems (high current density, low cross over, output gas compression, etc.) while enabling the use of less-expensive steel components and nonprecious metal catalysts.

Observation of Preferential Pathways for Oxygen Removal through Porous Transport Layers of Polymer Electrolyte Water Electrolyzers.

Understanding the relationships between porous transport layer (PTL) morphology and oxygen removal is essential to improve the polymer electrolyte water electrolyzer (PEWE) performance. X-ray computed tomography and machine learning were performed on a model electrolyzer at different water flow rates and current densities to determine how these operating conditions alter oxygen transport in the PTLs. We report a direct observation of oxygen taking preferential pathways through the PTL, regardless of the water flow rate or current density (1-4 A/cm).

Controlling the Distribution of Perfluorinated Sulfonic Acid Ionomer with Elastin-like Polypeptide.

Proton-exchange-membrane (PEM)-based devices are promising technologies for hydrogen production and electricity generation. Currently, the amount of expensive platinum catalyst used in these devices must be reduced to be cost-competitive with other technologies. These devices typically contain Nafion ionomer thin films in the catalyst layers, which are responsible for transporting protons and gaseous species to and from electrochemically active sites.

Dynamic surface self-reconstruction is the key of highly active perovskite nano-electrocatalysts for water splitting.

The growing need to store increasing amounts of renewable energy has recently triggered substantial R&D efforts towards efficient and stable water electrolysis technologies. The oxygen evolution reaction (OER) occurring at the electrolyser anode is central to the development of a clean, reliable and emission-free hydrogen economy. The development of robust and highly active anode materials for OER is therefore a great challenge and has been the main focus of research.

Ultralow charge-transfer resistance with ultralow Pt loading for hydrogen evolution and oxidation using Ru@Pt core-shell nanocatalysts.

We evaluated the activities of well-defined Ru@Pt core-shell nanocatalysts for hydrogen evolution and oxidation reactions (HER-HOR) using hanging strips of gas diffusion electrode (GDE) in solution cells. With gas transport limitation alleviated by micro-porous channels in the GDEs, the charge transfer resistances (CTRs) at the hydrogen reversible potential were conveniently determined from linear fit of ohmic-loss-corrected polarization curves. In 1 M HClO4 at 23 °C, a CTR as low as 0.