Durable Anode Electrodes with Facile and Scalable Electrodeposition for Green Hydrogen Production at Industrial Scale
Authors: Ding Lei , Wang Weitian , Xie Zhiqiang , Li Jun , Paxson Adam , Hamdan Monjid , Cullen David A. , van Eijk Lonneke , Foster Jayson , Stelmacovich Genevieve , Pylypenko Svitlana , Aaron Douglas S , Mench Matthew M , Zhang Feng Yuan 
Published: December 2024

Highly efficient electrodes with facile fabrication, excellent performance, low cost, and high durability are of paramount significance for the development of gigawatt-scale proton exchange membrane electrolyzer cells (PEMECs).1-5 In this study, amorphous Ir0.8Ru0.2Ox (80% Ir, 20% Ru) catalysts with high intrinsic activity are first deposited on Ti sintered powder via a room temperature electrodeposition process, serving as high-performance anode electrodes in PEMECs. Different Ir loadings of 0.16, 0.24, 0.4, and 0.72 mg/cm2 were deposited and evaluated in PEMECs. As a result, low average cell voltages of 1.623 and 1.875 V are achieved at 2 and 6 A/cm2, respectively, achieving high cell efficiency of 91%-94% at 2 A/cm2, superior to the commercial CCM.1, 3, 6 Moreover, with an Ir loading of 0.4 mg/cm2, the Ir0.8Ru0.2Ox electrode shows a low-performance loss after a 900-h operation at an ultrahigh current density of 5 A/cm2, resulting in a low degradation rate of only about 39 uV/h in the last 200 h. The remarkable performance and durability of the Ir0.8Ru0.2Ox electrode are mainly due to the high intrinsic activity of Ir0.8Ru0.2Ox catalysts exposing abundant active sites, sufficient Ir3+ content, a well-controlled Ir and Ru ratio, efficient phase transformation, and excellent catalyst support.

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