DURAble, Scalable, and Recyclable Components and Cell Designs for Next Generation Alkaline Exchange Membrane Water Electrolysis

Anion exchange membrane (AEM) electrolyzers (ELs) are an upcoming technology for the production of “green hydrogen”, combining the advantages of alkaline (AEL) and proton exchange membrane electrolysis (PEMEL). AEMELs use inexpensive, critical raw material (CRM)-free electrocatalysts (ECs). DURALYS aims at advancing AEMELs through a holistic approach from: (i) the development and characterization of the individual components, e.g., ECs and AEMs, to (ii) the fabrication and testing of electrodes and of a single-cell AEMEL. DURALYS strives to advance the technology readiness level (TRL) of AEMELs utilizing an approach guided by spectroscopy and analytics, which facilitate an in-depth comprehension of the functional components and their interactions. DURALYS aims at achieving its goal in several steps. WP1 covers the parallelized preparation of new hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) ECs free of CRMs, exploring multiple classes of materials. In WP2, the ECs undergo an electrochemical screening and are further characterized as regards stability by advanced analytical techniques such as differential electrochemical mass spectroscopy (DEMS) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). WP3 is dedicated to AEM synthesis, focusing on PFAS-free materials. Synthesis will be accompanied by physicochemical characterization as well as NMR, SAXS and XPS studies of ion transport in AEMs. In WP4 ECs and AEMs are combined into membrane-electrode assemblies (MEAs) and later integrated into commercially viable single-cell AEMELs engineered by the Italian industrial Partner. The performance and durability of these MEAs and AEMELs will be assessed by electrochemical characterization and X-ray techniques, both “ex-situ” and “in-operando”. Finally, WP5 models AEMELs, guiding the development of optimized systems and assessing the environmental impacts of the AEMELs devised in DURALYS in comparison with state-of-the-art ELs.