posted on 2021-12-13, 18:35authored byJi Eun Park, SungBin Park, Mi-Ju Kim, Heejong Shin, Sun Young Kang, Yong-Hun Cho, Yung-Eun Sung
The
design of high-performance and durable electrodes for the oxygen
evolution reaction (OER) is crucial for anion-exchange membrane water
electrolyzers (AEMWE). Herein, a three-dimensional unified electrode
in which nickel–iron oxyhydroxide (NiFeOOH) is directly electrodeposited
on a gas diffusion layer (GDL) is developed as an AEMWE anode. Unlike
conventional electrodes with a separate catalyst layer and GDL, the
unified electrode comprises a single component integrating the catalyst
layer with the GDL. The resulting unified electrode shows higher catalytic
activity than a conventional electrode based on commercial NiFe and
IrO2 and stable activity over 500 h. Investigation of the
electrode parameters revealed an outstanding AEMWE performance of
3600 mA cm–2 at 1.9 V, which is the highest among
many AEMWE studies. The unified AEMWE also showed durable performance
at an ultrahigh current density. Therefore, unified electrode design
can be considered an alternative to conventional electrodes to reduce
the hydrogen production cost.