Highly Efficient and Durable Anion Exchange Membrane Water Electrolyzer Enabled by a Fe-Ni3S2 Anode Catalyst

Anion exchange membrane water electrolyzer (AEM-WE) is a promising approach to producing green hydrogen using renewable energy. However, most of the reported AEM-WEs still use platinum-group metal-based catalysts and the performance is far beyond unsatisfactory. Particularly, developing highly active, durable, and earth-abundant metal-based oxygen evolution reaction (OER) catalysts is essential to improve energy efficiency and reduce the costs of AEM-WE. Herein, Ni2Fe8/Ni3S2/NF catalyst is fabricated in situ on nickel foam by a simple one-pot hydrothermal reaction. The as-prepared anode OER catalyst exhibits current densities of 500 and 1000 mA cm(-2) at an overpotential (eta) of 279 and 302 mV, superior to the performance of noble metal-based catalysts (IrO2, RuO2). Coupled with Ni4Mo/MoO2/NF, the resulting single-cell AEM-WE displays high performance (1.65 V @ 1 A cm(-2)) and high durability (100 h @ 1 A cm(-2)), outperforming most of the reported AEM-WEs assembled by non-noble metal-based catalysts. Additional characterization of the post-test anode using different spectroscopic techniques further proved that the Ni2Fe8/Ni3S2/NF is a highly efficient and robust anode in the AEM-WE device.

Automated summary

Ni2Fe8/Ni3S2/NF catalyst is fabricated on nickel foam by a simple one-pot hydrothermal reaction, exhibiting high current densities at low overpotential and outperforming noble metal-based catalysts. Coupled with Ni4Mo/MoO2/NF, the AEM-WE device shows high performance and durability, making the catalyst highly efficient and robust.