Revolution of Electrode Design Toward Oxygen Evolution Reaction for Anion Exchange Membrane Water Electrolysis

Abstract

Anion exchange membrane water electrolyzer (AEMWE) is a promising next-generation technology for producing green hydrogen coupling with cost-effective, platinum group metal-free (PGM-free) catalysts. In AEMWE, oxygen evolution reaction (OER) at the anode plays a more vital role compared with the cathodic reaction of hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). While tremendous attention has been devoted to enhancing the activity of OER catalysts, the long-term stability and cost of OER catalysts, which may play an even more important role in large-scale electrolysis industrialization, have been much less emphasized. Herein, we designed electrodes toward OER from cheap and abundant stainless-steel (SS) foam via a green approach, and the obtained electrode shows excellent activity and stability under an alkaline medium. This work can address all three bottlenecks of activity, stability, and cost, thereby revolutionizing the electrode design for AEMWE.