Engineering of Scalable Platinum-free Electrodes for Pure-Water AEM Water Electrolysis

Producing green hydrogen using renewable energy can reduce emissions for major domestic industrial sectors which use hydrogen as a feedstock like ammonia fertilizer, refineries, chemicals and steel. Additionally, green hydrogen can be used to reduce dependencies on foreign energy sources as a transportation fuel for heavy-duty vehicles, a long-duration energy storage medium, or as a natural gas replacement for industrial or building heat. However, existing water electrolysis technology is prohibitively expensive due to high materials cost (e.g., PEM electrolysis) or complex balance-of-plant systems required when using corrosive liquid KOH electrolyte (e.g., conventional alkaline electrolysis). Commercialization of anion exchange membrane water electrolysis (AEMWE) has the potential to enable transformative $1/kg green hydrogen by leveraging highly efficient hardware with very-low CAPEX. The ARPA-E IONICS program (2016-) has had great success in the development of highly conductive, chemically stable anion exchange membranes which are now being produced at the commercial scale. Origen Hydrogen is seeking to develop high-performance, platinum-free electrodes that will compliment these breakthrough materials for pure-water electrolysis operation. However, electrode durability remains an issue which severely limits the useful operational life of these devices. To address this, the team will use a multi-pronged approach to engineer low-cost electrodes that are not only immune to the most common degradation pathways but are also scalable to larger active areas. If successful, this technology has the potential to provide a step-change in cost reduction and a leap forward towards a hydrogen-based economy.