Electrically Insulated Catalyst–Ionomer Anode Interfaces toward Durable Alkaline Membrane Electrolyzers

Anion-exchange-membrane water electrolysis (AEMWE) is an emerging technology for scalable hydrogen production. AEMWE has poor durability when operating without supporting electrolyte due to the oxidation of ionomers and membranes in contact with anode oxygen evolution reaction (OER) catalyst. We report a new “passivated” anode architecture for AEMWE where OER catalysts and ionomers are physically separated with a thin film amorphous oxide coating that is electrically insulating but conductive to hydroxide ions. We find that 2–3 nm of HfOx passivation layers show sufficient hydroxide ion transport to minimally limit the cell performance while suppressing ionomer degradation with both Ir (500 mA·cm−2 for 40 h) and CoOx (1.0 A·cm−2 for 100 h) model porous-transport-layer-supported catalysts in AEMWE. This interfacial engineering approach guides electrode design to improve the durability of AEMWE, particularly for systems operating with pure water feed.