A New Study Addresses Alkaline Water Electrolysis, A Key Technology in the Decarbonizing Society

Decarbonizing society is the key presumption for Carbon neutrality of the society which refers to achieving net-zero carbon dioxide emissions. This is one of the goals of policies of many countries across the world. Carbon neutrality can be done by balancing emissions of carbon dioxide with its removal (often through carbon offsetting) or by eliminating emissions from society (the transition to the "post-carbon economy").

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Researchers from the University of Chemistry and Technology in Prague conducted research dealing with decarbonizing solutions. “We classified the materials reported into groups according to chemical composition and proposed criteria for a comparison of the materials reported in the literature,” says professor, Karel Bouzek

With interest in renewable energy sources and the decarbonization of industry rapidly accelerating, alkaline water electrolysis can now be regarded as a critical technology that enables efficient energy conversion and storage.

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Since an alkaline environment is suitable for a vast range of materials with satisfactory chemical stability under operating conditions, the topic of catalysts for the alkaline route could give rise to confusion in the community. Thus, researchers focused on analyzing the current situation in the electrocatalysis of the hydrogen evolution reaction in an alkaline and a neutral environment, presenting the leading group of materials studied and discussing their potential to achieve industrial relevance.

Graphical abstract of the study.

The research addresses the main limitations of standard parameters used for evaluating and comparing the catalytic activity and stability of selected catalysts. Furthermore, the research article comprehensively compares catalyst activities concerning the individual groups depending on their composition and the most used cations and cation-based materials.