A cation-ion conducting direct alcohol fuel cell: Establishing pH-asymmetric to simultaneous generate electricity and hydrogen

The huge energy consumption primarily resulting from the sluggish oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is the paramount hindrance in achieving the cost-effectiveness of hydrogen production via water electrolysis. In this work, alcohols are employed to assist the hydrogen production, and the feasibility of coproducing electricity and hydrogen in the cation-exchange membrane direct alcohol fuel cells is conceptually validated. After the performance optimization, the peak power density of 114 mW cm −2 is achieved at the hydrogen generation current density of 230 mA cm −2 . Impressively, the fairly flat 24-h constant current discharge and hydrogen production plots demonstrate the good durability of the proposed hydrogen production device. Moreover, the fuel flexibility of the cation-exchange membrane direct alcohol fuel cells on methanol, ethanol, propanol, iso-propanol and ethylene glycol furthering suggests its application potential. This work proposes an effective strategy for the energy-saving green hydrogen production.