SBIR Phase II: Advanced Anodes for Anion Exchange Membrane Water Electrolyzers

The broader/commercial impact of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is the development of anodes to enable low-cost, scalable water electrolyzers that dramatically reduce the cost of hydrogen production. Hydrogen, produced from water and electricity, is a versatile industrial feedstock. The most immediate market opportunity lies in localized hydrogen generation (e.g., for data centers and warehouses), where energy efficiency is paramount. Medium- and long-term growth is expected in centralized hydrogen hubs and derivative markets; the hydrogen derived ammonia market alone is projected to grow by $6 billion by 2030. This project supports these markets by enabling electrolyzers that are highly energy efficient, low-cost, and manufactured with domestic materials using high-throughput production methods. Its central innovation is a simplified anode that eliminates costly catalyst layers, uses no critical minerals, and improves electrolysis efficiency. This directly reduces capital and operational costs while improving geopolitical resilience through secure domestic supply chains. By advancing core electrolyzer technology with a focus on efficiency and manufacturability, this project contributes to United States' energy leadership while delivering major commercial benefits. The intellectual merit of this project lies in the development of a novel, scalable “unified” anode for anion exchange membrane water electrolyzers (AEMELs). This unified anode is made of low-cost porous substrates that are electrochemically functionalized to transform them into chemically stable and catalytically active structures. It replaces the conventional complex and expensive two-layer structure of a nanoparticle catalyst layer deposited on a porous transport layer. This innovation improves the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) – the primary bottleneck in water electrolysis – by enhancing reaction kinetics, simplifying transport pathways, and reducing interfacial resistance. This project will first optimize catalyst composition and morphology to enable high hydrogen production rates, high efficiency, and excellent durability under alkaline conditions. The functionalization process conditions will then be optimized for scale up, scaled to large-batch production, and ultimately adapted for high-speed roll-to-roll manufacturing. This effort integrates materials science, electrochemistry, and manufacturing engineering, and is expected to advance understanding of structure–function relationships in electrocatalysts. By overcoming key limitations in anode performance, cost, and scalability, the project will significantly improve the commercial viability of AEMELs for both distributed and centralized hydrogen production, while strengthening the scientific foundation for next-generation electrochemical energy systems and manufacturing methods. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.