Boosting alkaline water electrolysis by asymmetric temperature modulation

Hydrogen production by water electrolysis is a sustainable and promising pathway to store surplus electricity from intermittent renewable energy. In conventional electrolyzers, hydrogen evolution oxygen reactions at the two electrodes run same temperature. this work, we implement an asymmetric temperature modulation enhance rate in alkaline solution. We revisit thermodynamics of determine both simulations experiments that Gibbs free energy change required for under lower than uniform average With difference 40 K (possible low-grade waste heat), voltage configuration decreases 100 mV current density 10 mA cm−2 compared system operated Moreover, thermal efficiency reaches maximum value 7% optimized operating density. The asymmetric-temperature opens way utilization heat.