High Performance and Durable Anode with 10-Fold Reduction of Iridium Loading for Proton Exchange Membrane Water Electrolysis

Proton exchange membrane water electrolysis (PEMWE) technology is especially advantageous for green H2 production as a clean energy vector. During the water electrolysis process, the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) requires a large amount of iridium (2-3 mgIr cm−2) as catalyst. This material is scar...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Torrero, Jorge, Morawietz, Tobias, García Sanchez, Daniel, Galyamin, Dmitry, Retuerto, María, Martin-Diaconescu, Vlad, Rojas Muñoz, Sergio, Alonso, J. A., Gago, Aldo Saul, Friedrich, Kaspar Andreas
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2023
País:España
Institución:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Repositorio:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
OAI Identifier:oai:digital.csic.es:10261/350504
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/350504
https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/85156249141
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:degradation
iridium
low loading
OER
PEM water electrolysis
Descripción
Sumario:Proton exchange membrane water electrolysis (PEMWE) technology is especially advantageous for green H2 production as a clean energy vector. During the water electrolysis process, the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) requires a large amount of iridium (2-3 mgIr cm−2) as catalyst. This material is scarce and expensive, representing a major bottleneck for large-scale deployment of electrolyzers. This work develops an anode with 10-fold reduction of Ir loading (0.2 mgIr cm−2) compared to what it is used in commercial PEMWE for more than 1000 h. An advanced catalyst based on an Ir mixed oxide (Sr2CaIrO6) is used for this purpose. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) analyses show that the unconventional structure of the reconstructed catalyst can contribute to the reduction of Ir in the catalyst layer. The reconfiguration of the ionomer in the catalyst layer is also observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM), results in almost the full coverage of the catalytic layer with ionomer. The results presented herein demonstrate that it is possible to achieve high performance and stability in PEMWE with low Ir loading in the anode without showing significant degradation.