Abbasi Reza, Setzler Brian P, Lin Saisai, Wang Junhua, Zhao Yun, Xu Hui, Pivovar Bryan, Tian Boyuan, Chen Xi, Wu Gang, Yan Yushan
Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and Center for Catalytic Science and Technology, University of Delaware, 150 Academy Street, Newark, DE, 19716, USA.
Giner Inc., Newton, MA, 02466, USA.
Adv Mater. 2019 Aug;31(31):e1805876. doi: 10.1002/adma.201805876. Epub 2019 Apr 10.
Hydrogen is an ideal alternative energy carrier to generate power for all of society's energy demands including grid, industrial, and transportation sectors. Among the hydrogen production methods, water electrolysis is a promising method because of its zero greenhouse gas emission and its compatibility with all types of electricity sources. Alkaline electrolyzers (AELs) and proton exchange membrane electrolyzers (PEMELs) are currently used to produce hydrogen. AELs are commercially mature and are used in a variety of industrial applications, while PEMELs are still being developed and find limited application. In comparison with AELs, PEMELs have more compact structure and can achieve higher current densities. Recently, however, an alternative technology to PEMELs, hydroxide exchange membrane electrolyzers (HEMELs), has gained considerable attention due to the possibility to use platinum group metal (PGM)-free electrocatalysts and cheaper membranes, ionomers, and construction materials and its potential to achieve performance parity with PEMELs. Here, the state-of-the-art AELs and PEMELs along with the current status of HEMELs are discussed in terms of their positive and negative aspects. Additionally discussed are electrocatalyst, membrane, and ionomer development needs for HEMELs and benchmark electrocatalysts in terms of the cost-performance tradeoff.
氢气是一种理想的替代能源载体，可为包括电网、工业和交通部门在内的社会所有能源需求发电。在制氢方法中，水电解是一种很有前景的方法，因为它零温室气体排放，并且能与所有类型的电源兼容。碱性电解槽（AEL）和质子交换膜电解槽（PEMEL）目前用于制氢。AEL在商业上已经成熟，用于各种工业应用，而PEMEL仍在研发中，应用有限。与AEL相比，PEMEL结构更紧凑，能实现更高的电流密度。然而，最近，一种PEMEL的替代技术——氢氧化物交换膜电解槽（HEMEL）受到了广泛关注，因为它有可能使用不含铂族金属（PGM）的电催化剂以及更便宜的膜、离聚物和建筑材料，并且有潜力实现与PEMEL相当的性能。在此，将从优缺点方面讨论最先进的AEL和PEMEL以及HEMEL的现状。此外，还将讨论HEMEL的电催化剂、膜和离聚物的发展需求，以及在性价比权衡方面的基准电催化剂。
