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Hydrogen Production via Ion Exchange Membrane Water Electrolysis: Progress and Challenges

A special issue of Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417). This special issue belongs to the section "Materials Science and Engineering".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 October 2021) | Viewed by 9863

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87545, USA
Interests: fuel cells; water electrolysis; catalysts; lithium ion batteries.

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

To reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, we need to move away from fossil-based energy sources. Hydrogen (H2) is now more broadly considered to be an alternative energy carrier to the fossil fuels. Water electrolysis is an electrochemical energy storage system that harvests energy into the H2 produced by water splitting utilizing electricity. Particularly in combination with renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind energies, water electrolysis can generate zero-emission clean fuel, i.e., H2. Ion exchange membrane water electrolysis proposes many advantages, including compact size, high H2 production rate, and flexibility to the alternating electrical inputs, thus making it a very suitable H2 production technology for renewable energy sources. Types of ion exchange membrane water electrolysis are proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolysis and anion exchange membrane (AEM) electrolysis. PEM water electrolysis works in acidic environments and is a relatively mature technology. Commercial PEM water electrolysis systems are available. However, the cost of PEM electrolysis is still very high due to the use of expensive and rare materials (iridium, platinum, and titanium), and cost reduction is highly needed for the broad employment of this technology. AEM water electrolysis works in alkaline environments, making it accessible for use with inexpensive materials, i.e., significant cost reduction is possible. However, AEM electrolysis technology has not been fully developed yet for practical applications, and there are many challenges to make it viable.

This Special Issue is intended to cover both PEM and AEM water electrolysis technologies in order to help grasp the progress and challenges of both technologies and eventually contribute to the advancement of ion exchange membrane water electrolysis technologies.

Dr. Hoon T. Chung
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • AEM water electrolysis
  • PEM water electrolysis
  • electrolysis system
  • membrane
  • ionomer
  • catalysts

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Review

15 pages, 2896 KiB  
Review
Electrocatalysis for the Oxygen Evolution Reaction in Acidic Media: Progress and Challenges
by Hui-Ying Qu, Xiwen He, Yibo Wang and Shuai Hou
Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(10), 4320; https://doi.org/10.3390/app11104320 - 11 May 2021
Cited by 46 | Viewed by 9324
Abstract
The oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is the efficiency-determining half-reaction process of high-demand, electricity-driven water splitting due to its sluggish four-electron transfer reaction. Tremendous effects on developing OER catalysts with high activity and strong acid-tolerance at high oxidation potentials have been made for proton-conducting [...] Read more.
The oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is the efficiency-determining half-reaction process of high-demand, electricity-driven water splitting due to its sluggish four-electron transfer reaction. Tremendous effects on developing OER catalysts with high activity and strong acid-tolerance at high oxidation potentials have been made for proton-conducting polymer electrolyte membrane water electrolysis (PEMWE), which is one of the most promising future hydrogen-fuel-generating technologies. This review presents recent progress in understanding OER mechanisms in PEMWE, including the adsorbate evolution mechanism (AEM) and the lattice-oxygen-mediated mechanism (LOM). We further summarize the latest strategies to improve catalytic performance, such as surface/interface modification, catalytic site coordination construction, and electronic structure regulation of catalytic centers. Finally, challenges and prospective solutions for improving OER performance are proposed. Full article
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