Powering the hydrogen future: current status and challenges of anion exchange membrane fuel cells

Hydrogen energy and related technologies are essential for combating climate change and meeting the growing energy demands. Despite being considered a key technology, proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) are yet to overcome their dependence on noble-metal catalysts, hindering progress toward a hydrogen economy. Recently, anion exchange membrane fuel cells (AEMFCs) have emerged as promising alternatives to PEMFCs owing to the use of inexpensive metals for both the catalysts and bipolar plates in alkaline environments. Although the AEMFC technology has achieved tremendous progress in materials development, several chronic problems need to be addressed. This review presents a comprehensive overview of the critical issues in the development of AEMFCs and the previous efforts made to resolve them. In addition, a comparative analysis between PEMFCs and AEMFCs is performed to diagnose the current status of AEMFCs from a practical perspective and to propose potential avenues for future development. We conducted an objective comparison between the present performance and durability of AEMFCs with mature PEMFC technology. This review explains the pathway for AEMFCs by categorizing the materials, MEA designs, and various phenomena.