Rapid Fabrication of Efficient and Stable Microporous Electrodes for Practical Alkaline Water Electrolysis

Abstract

Efficient and stable electrode is paramount for advancing practical alkaline water electrolysis (AWE) technology. In this study, we employed a rapid and scalable laser texturing process to create microporous nickel electrodes, demonstrating promising catalytic performances for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER). The alkaline electrolyzer cell (AEL) incorporating laser-textured electrodes (NP-LT30) exhibited a remarkable improvement, with voltage drops exceeding 300 mV under a current density of 1 A cm−1, compared to conventional perforated Ni plate electrodes (NP) based cell. This enhancement resulted from a substantial boost in mass transport, as unveiled by in-situ electrochemical impedance analysis. Of particular note is the unique multi-channel porous structure within the NP-LT30 electrode, enabling rapid mass transport through an innovative convection mode driven by an intermittent bubble eruption (IBE) mechanism, outperforming the traditional convection mode. Furthermore, AEL using NP-LT30 electrodes demonstrated exceptional durability, maintaining performance at 1.0 A cm–2 for an impressive 300 hours. This study highlights the capability of the multi-channel structure within NP-LT30 electrodes to expedite mass transport in practical AWE applications significantly. Moreover, the cost-effective and scalable nature of laser-textured porous electrodes positions them for commercialization, enabling the production of highly efficient electrodes for practical AWE implementation.