POS6-1590

Highly Durable Superaerophobic Hydrogel Coating for Efficient Anion Exchange Membrane Water Electrolysis

Topic

S6. Emerging Polymer and Hybrid Materials for Advanced Energy Storage and Conversion

When and Where

Sep 30, 2026 08:30 - 09:30

Room 301 (Grand Ballroom)

Session Chairs

Heesuk KIM

Jinhye BAE

Presenter(s)

Siheon Lee (Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826, Republic of Korea)

Co-Author(s)

Yunseo Lee (Division of Chemical and Material Metrology, Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science, Daejeon, 34133 Republic of Korea), Wonjin Lee (Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826, Republic of Korea), Goum Min (Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826, Republic of Korea), Changhyun Seong (Department of Future Energy and Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, 16419 Republic of Korea), Younghoon Oh (Department of Chemistry, Boston University, 590 Commonwealth Avenue Boston, MA 02215, USA.), Sunghak Park (Department of Future Energy and Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, 16419 Republic of Korea), Juhyuk Park (Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826, Republic of Korea), Ki Chang Kwon (Division of Chemical and Material Metrology, Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science, Daejeon, 34133 Republic of Korea)

Abstract

Practical anion-exchange-membrane water electrolysis (AEMWE) requires porous Ni-based anodes that are catalytically active, durable, scalable and resistant to gas-bubble flooding. Here, we present a simple hydrogel-coating strategy that converts commercial Ni felt electrodes into catalytic–fluidic interfaces for AEMWE. The coating is based on a divinylbenzene-crosslinked poly(acrylic acid) hydrogel, designed to maintain a hydrated carboxylate-rich network under alkaline electrolysis conditions and to be reproducibly applied to large-area porous electrodes. During alkaline operation, the hydrogel is not merely a passive wetting layer. It promotes the in situ formation of Ni hydroxide-like species at the hydrogel–Ni interface, while Fe-ion treatment further programs the interface toward NiFe-based active species. At the same time, high-speed bubble imaging shows that the hydrated coating facilitates oxygen-bubble removal, especially for small bubbles retained within the Ni felt structure. Together, electrochemical and in situ analyses indicate that the performance improvement originates from both hydrogel-mediated catalytic activation and reduced bubble-induced transport losses. This work establishes alkali-resilient hydrogel coatings as scalable, programmable interphases for durable AEMWE electrodes.

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