Using inexpensive nickel compounds to replace costly and rare iridium for efficient alkaline membrane electrolyzers

A team from the Technical University of Berlin, HZB, IMTEK (University of Freiburg) and Siemens Energy has developed a highly efficient alkaline membrane electrolyzer that approaches the performance of established proton-exchange membrane(PEM) electrolyzers. What makes this achievement remarkable is the use of inexpensive nickel compounds for the anode catalyst, replacing costly and rare iridium.

At BESSY II, the team was able to elucidate the catalytic processes in detail using operando measurements, and a theory team (U.S., Singapore) provided a consistent molecular description. In Freiburg, prototype cells were built using a new coating process and tested in operation. The results have been published in the journal Nature Catalysis.

Hydrogen will play a major role in the energy system of the future, as an energy storage medium, a fuel and valuable raw material for the chemical industry. Hydrogen can be produced by electrolysis of water in a virtually climate-neutral way, provided this is done with electricity from solar or wind power.

Scale-up efforts for a green hydrogen economy are currently largely dominated by two systems: proton-conducting membrane electrolysis (PEM) and classic liquid alkaline electrolysis. AEM electrolyzers combine the advantages of both systems and, for example, do not require rare precious metals such as iridium.

Now, research teams from TU Berlin and HZB, together with the Department of Microsystems Engineering (IMTEK) at the University of Freiburg and Siemens Energy, have presented the first AEM electrolyzer that produces hydrogen almost as efficiently as a PEM electrolyzer. Instead of iridium, they used nickel double hydroxide compounds with iron, cobalt or manganese and developed a process to coat them directly onto an alkaline ion exchange membrane.

Insight into molecular processes during electrolysis at BESSY II

During the electrolysis in the cell, they were able to carry out operando measurements at the Berlin X-ray source BESSY II at the LiXEdrom end station. A theory team from Singapore and the U.S. helped to interpret the experimental data.

“This enabled us to elucidate the relevant catalytic-chemical processes at the catalyst-coated membrane, in particular the phase transition from a catalytically inactive alpha phase to a highly active gamma phase and the role of the various O ligands and Ni⁴⁺ centers in the catalysis,” explains Prof. Peter Strasser, TU Berlin.

“It is this gamma phase that makes our catalyst competitive with the current state-of-the-art iridium catalysts. Our work shows important similarities to iridium in the catalytic mechanism, but also some surprising molecular differences.”

The study has thus significantly advanced our understanding of the fundamental catalysis mechanisms of the new nickel-based electrode materials. In addition, the newly developed coating method for the membrane electrode promises excellent scalability. A first fully functional laboratory cell has already been tested at IMTEK. The work lays the foundation for further industrial evaluation and demonstrates that an AEM water electrolyzer can also be highly efficient.