Nano-metal diborides-supported anode catalyst with strongly coupled TaOx/IrO2 catalytic layer for low-iridium-loading proton exchange membrane electrolyzer

Yuannan Wang, Mingcheng Zhang, Zhenye Kang, Lei Shi, Yucheng Shen, Boyuan Tian, Yongcun Zou, Hui Chen () and Xiaoxin Zou ()
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Yuannan Wang: Jilin University
Mingcheng Zhang: Jilin University
Zhenye Kang: Hainan University
Lei Shi: Jilin University
Yucheng Shen: Jilin University
Boyuan Tian: State Key Laboratory of Advanced Transmission Technology (State Grid Smart Grid Research Institute Company Limited)
Yongcun Zou: Jilin University
Hui Chen: Jilin University
Xiaoxin Zou: Jilin University

Nature Communications, 2023, vol. 14, issue 1, 1-12

Abstract: Abstract The sluggish kinetics of oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and high iridium loading in catalyst coated membrane (CCM) are the key challenges for practical proton exchange membrane water electrolyzer (PEMWE). Herein, we demonstrate high-surface-area nano-metal diborides as promising supports of iridium-based OER nanocatalysts for realizing efficient, low-iridium-loading PEMWE. Nano-metal diborides are prepared by a novel disulphide-to-diboride transition route, in which the entropy contribution to the Gibbs free energy by generation of gaseous sulfur-containing products plays a crucial role. The nano-metal diborides, TaB2 in particular, are investigated as the support of IrO2 nanocatalysts, which finally forms a TaOx/IrO2 heterojunction catalytic layer on TaB2 surface. Multiple advantageous properties are achieved simultaneously by the resulting composite material (denoted as IrO2@TaB2), including high electrical conductivity, improved iridium mass activity and enhanced corrosion resistance. As a consequence, the IrO2@TaB2 can be used to fabricate the membrane electrode with a low iridium loading of 0.15 mg cm−2, and to give an excellent catalytic performance (3.06 A cm−2@2.0 V@80 oC) in PEMWE―the one that is usually inaccessible by unsupported Ir-based nanocatalysts and the vast majority of existing supported Ir-based catalysts at such a low iridium loading.

Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-40912-8

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