Issue 32, 2024

Spatial decoupling strategy boosted alkaline hydrogen evolution for an efficient solar-driven AEM electrolyzer

Abstract

Electrolytic water splitting using renewable energy sources, such as solar power, provides a green and sustainable approach for hydrogen production. Anion exchange membrane (AEM) electrolyzers present substantial commercial prospects; however, the rate of hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in alkaline electrolytes is limited by the water dissociation step. In this work, we fabricated an N-doped Ni substrate for loading ultrafine Pt nanoparticles, realizing spatial decoupling of the reaction process to break the limitation of water dissociation, where the N-doped Ni substrate and Pt nanoparticles facilitate the supply of ample H* and H2 release, respectively. The prepared Pt–N–Ni/NC with extremely low Pt loading (1.0 wt%) requires only 15 and 149 mV overpotentials to reach current densities of 10 and 1000 mA cm−2, respectively. When assembled into an AEM electrolyzer, the system requires a cell voltage of only 1.75 V to achieve a current density of 1000 mA cm−2. Notably, the solar-driven AEM electrolyzer demonstrates a current density of 1390 mA cm−2 with a solar-to-hydrogen efficiency (STH) of 8.27%. This study proposes a strategy to achieve efficient utilization and performance improvement of precious metals, promoting the development of efficient green hydrogen production.

Graphical abstract: Spatial decoupling strategy boosted alkaline hydrogen evolution for an efficient solar-driven AEM electrolyzer

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
04 6 2024
Accepted
09 7 2024
First published
23 7 2024

J. Mater. Chem. A, 2024,12, 21106-21113

Spatial decoupling strategy boosted alkaline hydrogen evolution for an efficient solar-driven AEM electrolyzer

M. Cui, Y. Zhou, R. Guo, W. Zhao, Y. Liu, Q. Ou and S. Zhang, J. Mater. Chem. A, 2024, 12, 21106 DOI: 10.1039/D4TA03872J

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