In July 2026, Evonik officially launched its pilot production facility for AEM (anion exchange membranes) in Marl, Germany, starting production of DURAION® high-performance membranes. With an annual capacity capable of supporting up to 2.5 GW of electrolyzer installations, equivalent to one quarter of Germany's total planned electrolysis capacity for 2030, this membrane is specifically designed for high current density and high-pressure conditions and is manufactured without PFAS. Evonik also established an AEM center in Shanghai to test membrane integration solutions with customers under real operating conditions. U.S.-based AEM electrolyzer manufacturer Power to Hydrogen (P2H2) was named a 2026 Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum. Its AEM electrolyzer design targets reducing the cost of green hydrogen production by up to 65%. P2H2 is deploying a commercial-scale system at the Port of Antwerp-Bruges in Belgium while constructing a 0.5 MW AEM electrolyzer for the EU PYROCO2 project. In May 2026, Enapter released its new Stack 250, which produces around 100 kg of high-purity hydrogen per day per stack. The modular design enables AEM electrolyzer systems to be scaled up to 100 MW or even the gigawatt level, and the stack is fully compatible with alkaline electrolysis systems. According to the International Energy Agency, the global average market price of AEM electrolyzers in 2025 was approximately USD 2,864/kW. With the mass production of Evonik's membrane, this price is expected to drop below USD 2,200/kW by the end of 2026, a direct result of AEM electrolyzers' ability to use non-precious metal catalysts, thereby significantly reducing overall system investment costs.
In 2026, a wealth of high-quality academic work emerged in the AEM electrolyzer field covering membrane materials, catalysts, and device engineering. The following five representative papers, published in Advanced Materials, Journal of Materials Chemistry A, Energy & Environmental Science, a Materials review, and a ScienceDirect review, push the performance and stability boundaries of AEM electrolyzers from different perspectives.
The Advanced Materials focuses on the long-term stable operation of AEM electrolyzers at ampere-level current densities. Through atomic-scale regulation, it resolves the core bottlenecks of catalyst layer delamination and rapid performance decay under high current, directly addressing the critical issue of transitioning AEM electrolyzers from the laboratory to industrial application.
The Journal of Materials Chemistry A reports an anion exchange membrane reinforced with cycloolefin copolymer (COC). It achieves a current density of 2.24 A cm(-2) at 1.8 V and a hydroxide conductivity of 127 mS cm(-1) at 80 degrees C. This composite membrane is evaluated as a novel AEM material that combines high conductivity, chemical stability, and potential for low-cost scale-up.
The Energy & Environmental Science reveals a new pathway beyond the traditional oxygen evolution reaction, direct O-O radical coupling, that enables stable operation of AEM electrolyzers at ampere-level current densities. This provides a completely new theoretical framework for designing non-precious metal OER catalysts, helping to reduce dependence on platinum-group metals and thereby lowering the pressure of precious metal recycling.
The review in Materials systematically examines electrode material advances in ALK, PEM, SOEC, and AEM electrolysis technologies from 2021 to 2025. It focuses on the current application status of non-precious metal catalysts at both the anode and cathode of AEM electrolyzers and on how electrode structure optimization enhances system efficiency.
The ScienceDirect review comprehensively summarizes the current state of the art in AEM water electrolysis stacks, covering stacks ranging from 0.1-2.5 kW in academic research to approximately 2.5 kW-5 MW in industrial applications. It provides a detailed comparison of the effects of parameters such as electrocatalysts, porous transport layers, temperature, and electrolyte composition on stack performance and stability.
Non-ionic Binder Polymer: Siemens Energy developed AEM electrolyzer electrodes using a non-ionic, fluorine-free binder. The hydrophobic electrode expels liquid electrolyte from transport channels, reducing hydrogen supersaturation pressure. At 2 A cm(-2), hydrogen crossover drops to 0.8%, and the overpotential is 40 mV lower than that of traditional anion ionomers. The non-ionic cathode remains stable over 1,000 hours of operation, promising a new generation of durable AEM electrolyzer electrodes.
Cross-linked Poly(triphenyl alkyl) Membrane: A non-ionic cross-linked AEM with dicationic side chains achieved a conductivity of 141.9 mS cm(-1) at 80 degrees C and retained 90.9% of its initial conductivity after 1,600 hours of immersion in strong alkali at 60 degrees C. Through the synergistic design of non-ionic crosslinking and dicationic side chains, this study significantly enhances the chemical stability of the AEM in alkaline environments.
AEM Durability and Degradation: This review systematically analyzes membrane degradation mechanisms in AEM electrolyzers, including chemo-mechanical degradation of the polymer backbone, degradation of quaternary ammonium head groups caused by hydroxyl radical attack, and membrane swelling. Chemical degradation products contaminate the catalyst layer and lead to performance loss. The study provides a clear failure mechanism map for extending the lifetime of AEM electrolyzers.
AEM Electrolyzer Design and Evaluation: This research developed a novel double-layer porous AEM electrolyzer using two stacked nickel mesh layers with different porosities as the anode, optimized via the Taguchi method. This design, which breaks away from conventional configurations, improves mass transfer efficiency and provides a quantitative design basis for the engineering scale-up of AEM electrolyzers.
Bifunctional Catalyst: Ni,Mn co-doped Fe3O4/Co3S4 heterostructure nanosheets with both oxygen evolution and hydrogen evolution catalytic activity are reported. At industrial-grade current densities, the design of non-precious metal bifunctional catalysts fundamentally reduces the consumption of platinum-group metals, greatly lightening the burden of precious metal recycling. It also reduces the complexity of titanium and nickel recovery, nickel-based catalysts and nickel mesh electrodes can be directly recycled after decommissioning, while titanium bipolar plates also possess good recyclability.
Cathode Layer Design: Through kinetic analysis, this study establishes broad design principles for cathode catalysts and catalyst layers in AEM electrolyzers, systematically analyzing structure-performance relationships. It fills the methodological gap between catalyst material development and electrode engineering design, providing clear targets for the quantitative design of AEM cathodes.
The Smart Hydrogen Hub project at the Port of Rotterdam has selected Enapter's AEM Nexus 2500 as its core electrolysis technology. This system is a 2.5 MW multicore AEM electrolyzer designed for industrial applications. Its modular architecture supports phased capacity expansion and flexible operation under fluctuating renewable energy conditions. Located in the M4H (Merwe-Vierhavens) district, an area being redeveloped as an innovation hub, the project is jointly developed by Platform Zero, Adsensys, the Port of Rotterdam, InnovationQuarter, and other public-private partners. It will demonstrate the integration of photovoltaic power generation, energy storage, hydrogen production, certification, and local use into a single flexible energy system for industrial, transport, and maritime applications. According to project sources, the AEM electrolyzer system directly outputs high-purity hydrogen at 35 bar, eliminating the energy consumption of additional compression. The overall system electricity consumption is approximately 4.2 kWh/Nm3, and it operates stably over a load range of 20% to 125%. Experience from this demonstration project shows that the response speed of AEM electrolyzers under fluctuating power input is comparable to that of PEM, and because nickel-based electrodes are used, operation and maintenance costs are significantly lower than for systems containing platinum-group metals. This real-world operational data provides a reliable basis for the large-scale deployment of AEM electrolyzers in ports and industrial parks.
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