Synergistic Configuration of Binary Rhodium Single Atoms in Carbon Nanofibers for High-Performance Alkaline Water Electrolyzer Natarajan Logeshwaran,

Abstract

Electrochemical alkaline water electrolysis offers significant economicadvantages; however, these benefits are hindered by the high kinetic energybarrier of the water dissociation step and the sluggish kinetics of the hydrogenevolution reaction (HER) in alkaline media. Herein, the ensemble effect ofbinary types of Rh single atoms (Rh-Nx and Rh-Ox ) on TiO2 -embedded carbonnanofiber (Rh-TiO2 /CNF) is reported, which serves as potent active sites forhigh-performance HER in anion exchange membrane water electrolyzer(AEMWE). Density functional theory (DFT) analyses support the experimentalobservations, highlighting the critical role of binary types of Rh single atomsfacilitated by the TiO2 sites. The Rh-TiO 2 /CNF demonstrates an impressiveareal current density of 1 A cm−2 , maintaining extended durability for up to225 h in a single-cell setup. Furthermore, a 2-cell AEMWE stack utilizingRh-TiO2 /CNF is tested under industrial-scale conditions. This research makesa significant contribution to the commercialization of next-generationhigh-performance and durable AEMWE stacks for clean hydrogen production