Pathways to feasible hydrogen production in alkaline water electrolyzers

• Alkaline water electrolysis is progressing toward marketable hydrogen production. • Feasible hydrogen production requires low-voltage and high-rate electrolysis. • Low-cost, high-performance, and stable catalysts/membranes facilitate feasibility. • High electricity prices are a critical challenge toward feasible hydrogen production. • Longer system lifetimes and lower water prices decrease hydrogen production costs. Renewable-electricity-powered hydrogen production via alkaline water electrolysis provides an efficient route to hydrogen economy. Recent advances in catalysts, membranes, and systems have enhanced the technology’s practicality. This work provides a techno-economic assessment of hydrogen production, offering scenarios that needs to be met toward wide-scale industrial implementation. The work explores the cost implications of critical performance metrics and parameters, including current density, cell voltage, Faradaic efficiency (FE), electricity and water prices, catalyst/membrane and system lifetimes, and electrolyzer cost. The study reveals 15 scenarios that could take the technology a step closer to the DOE’s hydrogen cost targets. The analysis reveals that the economically compelling production of hydrogen requires performance enhancements (particularly voltage reductions), along with lower electricity (<3.6 c kWh −1 ) and water (<3 $ ton −1 ) prices, longer catalyst/membrane lifetimes (>13,140 hours), electrolyzer costs (<200 kW −1 ), and catalyst/membrane costs (<5% of total electrolyzer capital). The work discusses the remaining technical and economic challenges, offering research directions toward marketable electrified hydrogen production.