Three-dimensional copper cobalt hydroxide electrode for anion exchange membrane water electrolyzer

Anion exchange membrane (AEM) water electrolyzers are promising energy devices for producing low-cost and clean hydrogen using platinum group metals (PGMs). However, AEM water electrolyzers still do not show satisfactory performance due to the sluggish kinetics of the electrodes. In this work, copper cobalt hydroxide (CuCo-hydroxide) nano sheet was synthesized on commercial nickel foam (NF) via electrochemical co precipitation, and used directly as an oxygen evolution reaction (OER) electrode for an AEM electrolyzer. The interaction between Cu and Co induces a change in the electronic structure of Co(OH)2 and improves the performance of the OER electrode. In addition, the AEM electrolyzers catalyzed by CuCo(OH)2 showed high energy conversion efficiency of 73.5%. This work demonstrates that non-PGM based electrodes fabricated using a simple electrochemical co-precipitation apply to AEM electrolyzers for low-cost and clean hydrogen production. & COPY; 2023 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

This work presents the synthesis of CuCo-hydroxide nano sheets via electrochemical co-precipitation and its application as an oxygen evolution reaction (OER) electrode in AEM water electrolyzers. The interaction between Cu and Co improves the electrode performance, leading to a high energy conversion efficiency of 73.5% for the AEM electrolyzer catalyzed by CuCo(OH)2.