Dual-aligned porous electrodes for enhanced hydrogen evolution in alkaline water electrolysis

The efficiency of water electrolysis is significantly affected by the bubbles on the surface and inside the electrode. To enhance the gas–liquid transfer within the porous electrodes, we developed an innovative design termed dual-aligned porous electrode (D-APE), achieved by integrating magnetic alignment with freeze casting techniques. This paper investigates the hydrogen evolution performance of porous electrodes prepared using four different methods: evaporation, magnetic-aligned evaporation, freeze casting, and dual-aligned methods. The findings demonstrate that the magnetic-aligned process effectively alters the electrode structure, resulting in improved hydrogen evolution performance. Notably, among all the examined electrodes, the D-APE exhibits the highest hydrogen evolution performance, with further enhancements observed with prolonged the time of magnetic alignment. Furthermore, a comparison is made between electrodes prepared using the freeze casting method and the dual-aligned method at various thickness. The results show that the thinner D-APE exhibits excellent hydrogen evolution performance at high current density. Moreover, the D-APE demonstrates significantly improved material utilization rates compared to the conventional freeze casting method, offering promising prospects for enhancing the efficiency of water electrolysis.