Metal-Doped Carbon Nanofiber Electrodes for Efficient Hydrogen Production in AEM Electrolyzers (StackAEM Project)

Nowadays, most of the hydrogen is still produced from steam methane reforming.¹ A promising sustainable alternative that has been widely explored is water electrolysis. As Pt remains as the benchmark material for this reaction, its price and scarcity impede its application at large scales.² For this reason, more economically viable catalysts based on earth abundant metals are needed.

In the framework of the STACKAEM project, we focus on the development of non-PGM doped carbon nanofibers (CNFs) films as electrocatalysts and electrodes for efficient hydrogen production using anion exchange membrane electrolysis (AEMEL) technology.

The cathodic materials presented in this work were fabricated via electrospinning of polymeric solutions containing different metal and organic dopants. The subsequent thermal treatments on the films resulted in free-standing porous CNFs films containing Co_xP, Ni and Mo₂C nanoparticles. Structural, morphological, compositional and electrical properties of the CNFs films were characterized employing a wide range of techniques.

The produced CNFs films exhibited high catalyst mass loadings (0.70-1.57 mg·cm^-2), mesoporosity with BET surface areas up to 337 m²·g^-1 and in plane-electrical conductivities up to 4056 S·m^-1. Comparing the electrochemical performance of the different materials, Co_xP@CNF exhibited an overpotential at 10 mA·cm^-2 of 107 mV, outperforming NiMo₂C@CNF (125 mV) and Mo₂C@CNF (155 mV). The generated CNFs-based films showed unique structural and compositional features, also a high electrochemical performance for HER that enable their implementation into AEMEL systems for the scaled-up hydrogen production that will be developed in the project.

STACKAEM Project is supported by MICIU/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and co-funded by European Union Next Generation EU/PRTR, with the grant number CPP2022-010058.

References

1. Medina Collana, J. T. et al. Sustainability 2025, 17 (18), 8367.
2. Arshad, U.; Tang, J.; Shao, Z. SusMat 2025, 5 (2), e267.