Water-Fed Hydroxide Exchange Membrane Electrolyzer Enabled by a Fluoride-Incorporated Nickel–Iron Oxyhydroxide Oxygen Evolution Electrode
Junwu Xiao, Alexandra M. Oliveira, Lan Wang, Yun Zhao, Teng Wang, Junhua Wang, Brian P. Setzler, Yushan Yan
Abstract
Here, we have developed a dissolved oxygen and galvanic corrosion method to synthesize vertically aligned fluoride-incorporated nickel–iron oxyhydroxide nanosheet arrays on a compressed Ni foam as an efficient self-supported oxygen evolution electrode. It is integrated with poly(aryl piperidinium) hydroxide exchange membrane and ionomers with high ion exchange capacity into a hydroxide exchange membrane electrolyzer fed with pure water, which achieves a performance of 1020 mA cm–2 at 1.8 V and prevents the detachment of catalysts during continuous operation (>160 h at 200 mA cm–2). This work provides a potential pathway for massively producing low-cost hydrogen using intermittent renewable energy sources.