No abstract

The hydrogen has been recognized as a clean, nonpolluting and unlimited energy source that can solve fossil fuel depletion and environmental pollution problems at the same time. Water electrolysis has been the most attractive technology in a way to produce hydrogen because it does not emit any pollutants compared to other method such as natural gas steam reforming and coal gasification etc. In order to improve efficiency and durability of the water electrolysis, comprehensive studies for highly active and stable electrocatalysts have been performed. The platinum group metal (PGM; Pt, Ru, Pd, Rh, etc.) electrocatalysts indicated a higher activity and stability compared with other transition metals in harsh condition such as acid solution. It is necessary to develop inexpensive non-noble metal catalysts such as transition metal oxides because the PGM catalysts is expensive materials with insufficient it's reserves. The optimization of operating parameter and the components is also important factor to develop an efficient water electrolysis cell. In this study, we optimized the operating parameter and components such as the type of AEM and density of gas diffusion layer (GDL) and the temperature/concentration of the electrolyte solution for the anion exchange membrane water electrolysis cell (AEMWEC) with the transition metal oxide alloy anode and cathode electrocatalysts. The maximum current density was 345.8 mA/cm 2 with parameter and component optimization.

The non-noble 1D nanofibers(NFs) prepared by electrospinning and calcination method were used as oxygen evolution reaction (OER) electrocatalyst for water electrolysis. The electrospinning process and rate of solution composition was optimized to prepare uniform and non-beaded PVP polymer electrospun NFs. The diameter and morphology of PVP NFs changed in accordance with the viscosity and ion conductivity. The clean metal precursor contained electrospun fibers were synthesized via the optimized electrospinning process and solution composition. The calcined CuCo 2 O 4 NFs catalyst showed higher activity and long-term cycle stability for OER compared with other Co 3 O 4 , NiCo 2 O NF catalysts. Furthermore, the CuCo 2 O 4 NFs maintained the OER activity during long-term cycle test compared with commercial CuCo 2 O 4 nanoparticle catalyst due to unique physicochemical and electrochemical properties by1D nanostructure.