First implementation of alkaline polymer electrolyte water electrolysis working only with pure water

Abstract

A new type of water electrolysis is implemented using an alkaline polymer electrolyte (APE) and non-precious metal catalysts, and working only with pure water. The membrane–electrode assembly (MEA) is fabricated by sandwiching a self-crosslinking quaternary ammonia polysulfone (xQAPS) membrane between a Ni–Fe anode and a Ni–Mo cathode, both impregnated with xQAPS ionomer. Such an initial prototype of APE water electrolysis has exhibited decent performance comparable to that of the well-developed alkaline water electrolyzer.