Development of metal free biochar based material for water electrolysis hydrogen production using anion exchange membrane: Creating circular economy

Abstract

In recent days, a steady growth is being noted in hydrogen energy field owing to the global rise in population and increased energy demand. Fast depletion of fossil-based fuels and climate change issues are driving nations towards exploring an alternate energy resource. Hydrogen energy is one such an option owing to availability of simple and cost intensive technology involvement. Alkaline water electrolysis is one of the simplest ways of producing hydrogen utilizing renewable energy and oxygen as the only byproduct thus not contributing to carbon footprint. However, immediate attention is needed to minimize the cost of electrolyzer components, maintenance and energy. Commercial proton exchange membrane water electrolyzers (PEM) in market employ large capital cost due to high-priced Nafion and other PFSA membranes, titanium endplates and noble metal-based electrocatalysts. As a consequence, researchers are looking into the usage of Anionic exchange membrane (AEM) for water/alkali based electrolyzer for producing hydrogen with non-noble metal electrocatalysts and low-cost metal end plates. In this article a waste coconut shell derived biochar is explored as the carbon matrix for base of electrocatalysts to replace other high-cost carbon support for electrocatalyst in water electrolyzer. The structural and electrical properties of the coconut shell biochar are studied and compared with other available carbon supports. To deep drive in the electrolyzer performance this approach is further extended to MEA (Membrane Electrode Assembly) level to study the metal free electrocatalyst behavior in real-time environmental conditions.