Soft‐Templating Strategies for AEM Water Electrolysis: Catalyst Development and Substrate Optimization

ABSTRACT In the pathway for a more sustainable world, hydrogen has been chosen as green energy vector, where anion exchange membrane water electrolysis (AEMWE) offers a cost‐efficient alternative to proton exchange membrane electrolysis (PEMWE) by leveraging earth‐abundant materials. Thus, in this work, a unique synthetic protocol, based on the molten salt‐assisted self‐assembly (MASA) method, is presented to produce both AEM anode and cathode based on NiFe and NiS, respectively. The method was employed for preparing binder‐free catalyst‐coated substrate (CCS) by dip‐coating onto C‐based porous transport layers (PTLs) and Ni fiber paper. In addition to the role of the substrates, the Ni:S and Ni:Fe ratios were also analyzed. In all the cases, electrodes were electrochemically characterized at three‐electrode and single‐cell level. The improvements in terms of synthesis simplicity and scalability provide a pathway to the rational development of high‐performance and economically viable AEMWE systems at (semi)industrial level.