Title : Scalable synthesis of the PEM electrolysis anode material
Abstract:
The electrolysis of water to generate hydrogen is speeding up in the world due to their storming potential to enable a fossil-free energy and transport system. There are several types of electrolysis, both those already dominated on the market, e.g., the alkaline electrolysis, and the acidic proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolysis that is not yet properly commercialized. PEM electrolyzers are those that has flexible operating power conditions, high power density and hydrogen purity.1 While we previously presented anode materials production in batch from cheap ceramic oxides supports possessing 8 wt.% of the active iridium.2-4 There is extensive need to design new methods of upscale production of the anode materials for PEM electrolyzers.
We have demonstrated scalable synthesis of iridium nanoparticles using single phase microwave (MW) assisted milli-fluidic continuous flow synthesis (MF-CFS) technique. After the experimental conditions’ optimization, the iridium nanoparticles were obtained in the range from 2 to 3.5 nm. Compared to commercial materials (IrO2), the one representative electrocatalysts, obtained from the optimized experimental condition, have demonstrated excellent and superior oxygen evolution reaction (OER) performance. The same electrocatalyst have retained about 46% (commercial IrO2 is 31%) of their initial mass-specific activity in long-terms stability test. The results indicate that flow synthesis iridium nanoparticles have exhibited outstanding electrochemical activity and long-term stability as a promising scalable approach to produce quality anode materials for PEM electrolyzers.
