Novel Electrocatalyst for Alkaline Membrane Water Electrolysis

Abstract The production of H 2 has aroused considerable attention worldwide as a renewable and sustainable energy source for domestic, industrial, and automotive purposes. Currently, about 95 % of H 2 is produced from the steam reforming of methane. However, this process leads to the burning of fossil fuels and emits greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Water electrolysis is an effective strategy to produce H 2 in high purity. Alkaline anion exchange membrane water electrolysis (AAEMWE) is preferred to proton exchange membrane water electrolysis (PEMWE) because of the flexibility to be able to use cheaper membranes as separators and non‐noble electrocatalysts. However, the sluggish oxygen evolution reaction (OER) kinetics in AAEMWE is a bottleneck for water splitting efficiency and decreases the overall performances. Now, a novel nickel and iron graphene‐nanoplatelets‐supported metal‐organic framework‐based electrocatalyst has been developed that shows excellent durability and record‐high current density for alkaline electrolysis that outperforms the state‐of‐the‐art OER electrocatalysts.