Construction and Prospect of Noble Metal‐Based Catalysts for Proton Exchange Membrane Water Electrolyzers

Abstract

Engineering noble metal‐based electrocatalysts (NMEs) with high activity is of vital importance to accelerate the hydrogen production from proton exchange membrane water electrolyzers (PEMWEs). However, the poor stability and high price of NMEs greatly restrict the practical application. In this review, a series of strategies are summarized to boost the activity and reduce the cost of NMEs under acidic condition from the perspective of composition and structure optimization. The composition regulation through doping of metals or nonmetals can effectively inspire alloy effect or cocktail effect of NMEs, which provides an essential guidance to reduce the cost and enhance the stability of NMEs. Meanwhile, the structure optimization also directly improves the intrinsic activity of NMEs, which is comprehensively elaborated based on size, defect, and geometric effects. In addition, to extend the industrial application of PEMWEs, critical scientific issues behind the formulating of electrocatalyst slurry and coating method–PEMWEs performance relationships are fully clarified. Finally, the challenges for survivability of active center, catalytic mechanism research, and construction of membrane electrode are concluded. This review offers comprehensive and targeted guidelines for the rational design of NMEs for PEMWEs application.