Enhanced nickel catalysts for producing electrolytic hydrogen

Low-cost and durable nickel-based catalysts are conventionally used in alkaline water electrolysers. Lowering the cost of electrolytic hydrogen produced via alkaline water electrolysis, particularly when using electricity sourced from intermittent renewable energy sources, is a sustainable development goal of global environmental and societal relevance. This, in practice, requires lowering the electrolytic cell overpotential while retaining high electrocatalyst durability typical of Ni-based catalytic materials. The most promising routes, we argue in this study, are the nanostructured and single-atom catalysts coupled to 3D printing for the deposition of the electrocatalytic layer on electrodes of large active area and optimal shape. This study suggests that lowering the cost of electrolytic hydrogen obtained in water alkaline electrolyzers requires to develop new nanostructured or single-atom Ni-based catalysts and newly shaped electrodes obtained via 3D printing.