Rational design of membrane electrode assemblies is crucial to the production of high-performance and durable anion exchange membrane (AEM) water electrolyzers (AEMWEs). Here, we propose a facile method to prepare patterned membranes by casting a polymer solution onto the surface of commercially available monocrystalline silicon plates with pyramid-shaped patterns on their surface. The prepared membrane shows a 39% improvement in water permeability and a 23% enhancement in the electrochemical surface area compared with a flat membrane with the same catalyst loading. The patterned AEM achieves an unprecedented current density of 17.5 A cm^–2@2.0 V and mass activity of 26.3 A mg_IrO2^–1 using a catalyst-coated membrane method. Moreover, the patterned AEM-based AEMWE can be operated at 1.5 A cm^–2 and 60 °C for 1000 h with a relatively low voltage decay rate of 22 μV h^–1. These results demonstrate that patterned membranes have promising application capability for the next generation of hydrogen-production devices.

中文翻译：

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用于高效碱性膜电解槽的先进图案膜

膜电极组件的合理设计对于生产高性能和耐用的阴离子交换膜（AEM）水电解槽（AEMWE）至关重要。在这里，我们提出了一种简便的方法，通过将聚合物溶液浇铸到表面上具有金字塔形图案的市售单晶硅板的表面来制备图案化膜。与具有相同催化剂负载量的平板膜相比，所制备的膜的透水性提高了39%，电化学表面积提高了23%。使用催化剂涂层膜方法，图案化的 AEM 在 2.0 V 下实现了前所未有的 17.5 A cm ^–2电流密度和 26.3 A mg _IrO2 ^{–1的质量活性。此外，基于AEM的图案化AEMWE可以在1.5 A cm –2}和60 °C下运行1000小时，电压衰减率相对较低，为22 μV h ^–1。这些结果表明，图案化膜对于下一代制氢装置具有广阔的应用前景。