Corrosion engineering for electrode fabrication toward alkaline water electrolysis
Quanbin Huang, Xu Zhang, Shiwei Lin, Yipu Liu, Xiaoxin Zou, Hui Chen
Abstract
Alkaline water electrolysis is a promising technology for producing green hydrogen at scale. The electrodes are the heart of an alkaline water electrolyzer, directly determining its performance and durability. In recent years, corrosion engineering has emerged as a powerful strategy to enable next-generation efficient electrodes for industrial use, thanks to its low cost, ease of scale-up and simple operation. This review highlights recent ground-breaking studies in corrosion engineering for electrode fabrication, mainly including oxygen corrosion, hydrogen evolution corrosion, oxidant corrosion, and microbial corrosion. We introduce the mechanisms of these four corrosion reactions, along with effective strategies for accelerating the processes and modifying the corrosion products. Finally, we propose future prospects of corrosion techniques in industrial hydrogen production.