Abstract
Water electrolysis to obtain hydrogen in combination with intermittent renewable energy resources is an emerging sustainable alternative to fossil fuels. Among the available electrolyzer technologies, anion exchange membrane water electrolysis (AEMWE) has been paid much attention because of its advantageous behavior compared to other more traditional approaches such as solid oxide electrolyzer cells, and alkaline or proton exchange membrane water electrolyzers. Recently, very promising results have been obtained in the AEMWE technology. This review paper is focused on recent advances in membrane electrode assembly components, paying particular attention to the preparation methods for catalyst coated on gas diffusion layers, which has not been previously reported in the literature for this type of electrolyzers. The most successful methodologies utilized for the preparation of catalysts, including co-precipitation, electrodeposition, sol–gel, hydrothermal, chemical vapor deposition, atomic layer deposition, ion beam sputtering, and magnetron sputtering deposition techniques, have been detailed. Besides a description of these procedures, in this review, we also present a critical appraisal of the efficiency of the water electrolysis carried out with cells fitted with electrodes prepared with these procedures. Based on this analysis, a critical comparison of cell performance is carried out, and future prospects and expected developments of the AEMWE are discussed.
Highlights
Hydrogen represents a suitable energy vector to guarantee engine operation, electricity production, and heat supplies in domestic, transport, and industrial sectors [1,2,3].Currently, the global demand for hydrogen is 70 MtH2 per year (International EnergyAgency) from which most production relies on the steam-methane reforming
This technique has been only used in a few anion exchange membrane water electrolysis (AEMWE) studies, probably because it gives rise to dense coatings that are less suitable for their use as electrodes for water electrolysis [112]
To compare the AEMWE performance using different catalyst formulations and preparation methods, Table 2 gathers a series of examples from the literature including data such as the components of the membrane electrode assembly assembly (MEA), the catalyst fabrication procedure, the operating conditions, and the current density obtained at a particular voltage
Summary
Hydrogen represents a suitable energy vector to guarantee engine operation, electricity production, and heat supplies in domestic, transport, and industrial sectors [1,2,3]. Agency) from which most production relies on the steam-methane (or other hydrocarbons) reforming This procedure is responsible for emitting a minimum of 7 kg of CO2 per kg of H2, an unmanageable figure in the quest for an effective reduction of carbon dioxide emissions [4,5]. For this reason, alternative hydrogen production processes using environmentally friendly routes with no waste emissions to the atmosphere constitute an urgent and unavoidable requirement. We summarize the main concepts involved in the functioning of various low-temperature electrolyzers, paying special attention to the AEMWE and to the methods utilized so far for the preparation and processing of the electrode catalysts to enhance the cell performance
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