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

Abstract

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.

Authors:
 [1];  [1];  [1]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [1]
+ Show Author Affiliations
  1. Giner Inc. Newton, MA (United States)
  2. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Center for Nanophase Materials Science (CNMS)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE); USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE), Fuel Cycle Technologies (NE-5)
OSTI Identifier:
1460216
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC05-00OR22725; SC0007471
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Journal of the Electrochemical Society
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 165; Journal Issue: 2; Journal ID: ISSN 0013-4651
Publisher:
The Electrochemical Society
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY; Oxygen Evolution Catalyst; Proton Exchange Membrane; Water Electrolyzer

Citation Formats

Zhao, Shuai, Stocks, Allison, Rasimick, Brian, More, Karren, and Xu, Hui. Highly Active, Durable Dispersed Iridium Nanocatalysts for PEM Water Electrolyzers. United States: N. p., 2018. Web. doi:10.1149/2.0981802jes.
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Zhao, Shuai, Stocks, Allison, Rasimick, Brian, More, Karren, & Xu, Hui. Highly Active, Durable Dispersed Iridium Nanocatalysts for PEM Water Electrolyzers. United States. https://doi.org/10.1149/2.0981802jes
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Zhao, Shuai, Stocks, Allison, Rasimick, Brian, More, Karren, and Xu, Hui. Mon . "Highly Active, Durable Dispersed Iridium Nanocatalysts for PEM Water Electrolyzers". United States. https://doi.org/10.1149/2.0981802jes. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1460216.
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@article{osti_1460216,
title = {Highly Active, Durable Dispersed Iridium Nanocatalysts for PEM Water Electrolyzers},
author = {Zhao, Shuai and Stocks, Allison and Rasimick, Brian and More, Karren and Xu, Hui},
abstractNote = {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.},
doi = {10.1149/2.0981802jes},
journal = {Journal of the Electrochemical Society},
number = 2,
volume = 165,
place = {United States},
year = {2018},
month = {1}
}
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https://doi.org/10.1149/2.0981802jes
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Cited by: 5 works
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Figures / Tables:

Figure 1. Figure 1.: Schematic of catalyst support comparison for ORR in fuel cells and OER in electrolysis cells.
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    Works referencing / citing this record:

    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

    • Alia, Shaun M.; Stariha, Sarah; Borup, Rod L.
    • Journal of The Electrochemical Society, Vol. 166, Issue 15
    • DOI: 10.1149/2.0231915jes

    OER Catalyst Stability Investigation Using RDE Technique: A Stability Measure or an Artifact?
    journal, January 2019

    • El-Sayed, Hany A.; Weiß, Alexandra; Olbrich, Lorenz F.
    • Journal of The Electrochemical Society, Vol. 166, Issue 8
    • DOI: 10.1149/2.0301908jes

    Iridium Oxygen Evolution Activity and Durability Baselines in Rotating Disk Electrode Half-Cells
    journal, January 2019

    • Alia, Shaun M.; Anderson, Grace C.
    • Journal of The Electrochemical Society, Vol. 166, Issue 4
    • DOI: 10.1149/2.0731904jes
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