(A) study on oxide-based supports for enhancing activity and stability of electrochemical catalyst in PEMWE

Abstract

Polymer electrolyte membrane water electrolysis(PEMWE) is a promising technology to solve the energy intermittency of renewable energy sources due to its fast response and wide load range. However, high prices of iridium(Ir) catalyst which is used for anode catalyst toward oxygen evolution reaction (OER), hampers commercialization of PEMWE. Therefore, catalyst development is required to reduce the use of Ir without degradation of cell performance. The introduction of support can effectively reduce the use of Ir by increasing its utilization efficiency. Oxide support is a highly corrosion-resistant material suitable for use in the anode, but it interferes with the transfer of electrons during the OER due to low electrical conductivity, thus degrading the performance of catalysts. In this paper, two strategies to increase the conductivity of oxide-based support were proposed : (1) stable dopant and (2) introduction of a conductive carbon nanotube. To demonstrate the utility of prepared support, the electrochemical performance of the supported-catalyst was verified. Furthermore, the analysis of the physical and chemical structure of the support and catalyst was conducted, and then the factors affecting the performance improvement of the catalyst, thereby improving the performance and durability of the supported catalyst.