Regulating the Third Metal to Design and Engineer Multilayered NiFeM (M: Co, Mn, and Cu) Nanofoam Anode Catalysts for Anion-Exchange Membrane Water Electrolyzers

Journal Article · 20 April 2024 · Advanced Energy Materials

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/aenm.202400029 · OSTI ID:2441031

Yang, Xiaoxuan ^[1]; Liang, Jiashun ^[1]; Shi, Qiurong ^[1]; Zachman, Michael J. ^[2]; Kabir, Sadia ^[3]; Liang, Junwu ^[4]; Zhu, Jing ^[5]; Slenker, Benjamin ^[1]; Pupucevski, Max ^[6]; Macauley, Natalia ^[3]; Kropf, A. Jeremy ^[7]; Zeng, Hao ^[1]; Strasser, Derek ^[3]; Myers, Deborah J. ^[7]; Xu, Hui ^[3]; Zeng, Zhenhua ^[8]; Yan, Yushan ^[9]; Wu, Gang  ^[1]

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1. State Univ. of New York (SUNY), Buffalo, NY (United States)
2. Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences (CNMS)
3. Giner, Inc., Newton, MA (United States)
4. Yulin Normal University (China)
5. National Univ. of Singapore (Singapore)
6. State Univ. of New York (SUNY), Buffalo, NY (United States); Giner, Inc., Newton, MA (United States)
7. Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
8. Purdue Univ., West Lafayette, IN (United States)
9. Univ. of Delaware, Newark, DE (United States)

In this study, alkaline anion-exchange membrane water electrolyzers (AEMWEs) for green hydrogen production have received intensive attention due to their feasibility of using earth-abundant platinum group metal (PGM)-free catalysts. Herein, the third metal is incorporated into NiFe-based catalysts to regulate their electronic structures and morphologies, aiming to achieve sufficient oxygen evolution reaction (OER) activity and performance in AEMWEs. The ternary NiFeM (M: Cu, Co, or Mn) catalysts are featured with multiple layered structures and nanofoam network morphologies, consisting of highly OER-active amorphous Ni-rich oxide shells and electrically conductive metallic alloy cores. The physical and electronic perturbations to the NiFe induced by a third element lead to a fine-tuning of the redox ability of the metal sites at the reaction centers, which breaks the scaling relationship between OH* and O* intermediates at the reaction centers. Thus, the unique structural configuration and electronic regulation simultaneously benefit catalytic activity and performance improvements. These NiFeM nanofoam catalysts demonstrated promising anode performance in actual AEMWEs, comparable to the IrO₂ reference, especially at high current densities. Notably, using various electrolytes (e.g., KOH solution or pure water) for AEMWEs exhibited a different performance trend among studied NiFeM catalysts, likely due to dynamic changes of catalysts under various OER environments.

• Research Organization: Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Office of Sustainable Transportation. Hydrogen Fuel Cell Technologies Office (HFTO); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Scientific User Facilities (SUF)
• Grant/Contract Number: AC02-06CH11357; AC05-00OR22725
• OSTI ID: 2441031
• Journal Information: Advanced Energy Materials, Journal Name: Advanced Energy Materials Journal Issue: 26 Vol. 14; ISSN 1614-6832
• Publisher: WileyCopyright Statement
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English