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Title: Highly Active, Durable Dispersed Iridium Nanocatalysts for PEM Water Electrolyzers

Journal Article · · Journal of the Electrochemical Society
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1149/2.0981802jes· OSTI ID:1460216
 [1];  [1];  [1]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [1]
  1. Giner Inc. Newton, MA (United States)
  2. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Center for Nanophase Materials Science (CNMS)
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One of the primary challenges for proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzers is the sluggish kinetics of the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) at the anode, which requires the use of precious metals or metal oxides, such as iridium (Ir) or iridium oxide (IrOx), as the OER catalyst. This study introduces a one-pot surfactant-free polyol reduction method to disperse iridium nanoparticles on a tungsten doped titanium oxide (WxTi1-xO2) support. The polyol reduction approach for the Ir/WxTi1-xO2 catalyst synthesis was systematically investigated to determine the influence of synthesis parameters on the catalysts’ physical properties, and its electrochemical activity and durability. The most promising synthesized catalyst with 38 wt% Ir (Ir38%/WxTi1-xO2) demonstrated five times higher mass activity than an Ir-black baseline (the industry standard catalyst) based on rotating-disk electrode (RDE) studies. When tested in a real water electrolyzer system, the synthesized catalyst enabled the Ir loading to be lowered by an order of magnitude while retaining a similar electrolyzer performance found for the baseline Ir-black catalyst. In conclusion, the Ir38%/WxTi1-xO2 catalyst also demonstrated remarkable stability, e.g., only small voltage (<20 mV) increase was observed during a 1200-hour durability test at a constant current density of 1500 mA/cm2.

Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE); USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE), Fuel Cycle Technologies (NE-5)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-00OR22725; SC0007471
OSTI ID:
1460216
Journal Information:
Journal of the Electrochemical Society, Vol. 165, Issue 2; ISSN 0013-4651
Publisher:
The Electrochemical SocietyCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 41 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (4)

Highly scattered Ir oxides on TiN as an efficient oxygen evolution reaction electrocatalyst in acidic media journal November 2019
Electrolyzer Durability at Low Catalyst Loading and with Dynamic Operation journal January 2019
OER Catalyst Stability Investigation Using RDE Technique: A Stability Measure or an Artifact? journal January 2019
Iridium Oxygen Evolution Activity and Durability Baselines in Rotating Disk Electrode Half-Cells journal January 2019

Figures / Tables (12)

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Figure 8.(p. 20)figure Figure 8.
Figure 9.(p. 21)figure Figure 9.
Figure 10.(p. 24)figure Figure 10.
Figure 11.(p. 25)figure Figure 11.

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Related Subjects

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
Oxygen Evolution Catalyst
Proton Exchange Membrane
Water Electrolyzer