Ternary layered double hydroxide oxygen evolution reaction electrocatalyst for anion exchange membrane alkaline seawater electrolysis

Anion exchange membrane(AEM)water electrolyzers are promising energy devices for the production of clean hydrogen from seawater.However,the lack of active and robust electrocatalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction(OER)severely impedes the development of this technology.In this study,a ternary layered double hydroxide(LDH)OER electrocatalyst(NiFeCo-LDH)is developed for high-performance AEM alkaline seawater electrolyzers.The AEM alkaline seawater electrolyzer catalyzed by the NiFeCo LDH shows high seawater electrolysis performance(0.84 A/cm^(2)at 1.7 Vcell)and high hydrogen production efficiency(77.6%at 0.5 A/cm^(2)),thus outperforming an electrolyzer catalyzed by a benchmark IrO_(2)electrocatalyst.The NiFeCo-LDH electrocatalyst greatly improves the kinetics of the AEM alkaline seawater electrolyzer,consequently reducing its activation loss and leading to high performance.Based on the results,this NiFeCo-LDH-catalyzed AEM alkaline seawater electrolyzer can likely surpass the energy conversion targets of the US Department of Energy.

Internal Polarization Field Induced Hydroxyl Spillover Effect for Industrial Water Splitting Electrolyzers

The formation of multiple oxygen intermediates supporting efficient oxygen evolution reaction(OER)are affinitive with hydroxyl adsorption.However,ability of the catalyst to capture hydroxyl and maintain the continuous supply at active sits remains a tremendous challenge.Herein,an affordable Ni2P/FeP2 heterostructure is presented to form the internal polarization field(IPF),arising hydroxyl spillover(HOSo)during OER.Facilitated by IPF,the oriented HOSo from FeP2 to Ni2P can activate the Ni site with a new hydroxyl transmission channel and build the optimized reaction path of oxygen intermediates for lower adsorption energy,boosting the OER activity(242 mV vs.RHE at 100 mA cm-2)for least 100 h.More interestingly,for the anion exchange membrane water electrolyzer(AEMWE)with low concentration electrolyte,the advantage of HOSo effect is significantly amplified,delivering 1 A cm^(-2)at a low cell voltage of 1.88 V with excellent stability for over 50 h.

Boosting the oxygen evolution reaction performance of wrinkled Mn(OH)_(2) via conductive activation with a carbon binder

Electrochemical water splitting is one of the most reliable approaches for environmental-friendly hydrogen production.Because of their stability and abundance,Mn-based materials have been studied as electrocatalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction(OER),which is a more sluggish reaction in the water splitting system.To increase the OER activity of Mn,it is imperative to facilitate the structural change of Mn oxide to the active phase with Mn_(3)+species,known as the active site.Here,we present the relationship between the electronic conductivity in the catalyst layer and the formation of the Mn active phase,δ-MnO_(2),from wrinkled Mn(OH)_(2).Mn(OH)_(2) has poor conductivity,and it disrupts the oxidation reaction toward MnOOH orδ-MnO_(2).Adjacent conductive carbon to Mn(OH)_(2) enabled Mn(OH)_(2) to be oxidized toδ-MnO_(2).Furthermore,after repetitive cyclic voltammetry activation,the more conductive environment resulted in a higher density ofδ-MnO_(2) through the irreversible phase transition,and thus it contributes to the improvement of the OER activity.