Abstract
Anion exchange membrane water electrolyzers (AEMWEs) can generate hydrogen with a pure water feed using noble metal-free catalysts. The development of highly active and stable catalysts for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is required for improving performance of AEMWEs systems. Ni-Fe (oxy)hydroxides show high OER catalytic activity in alkaline media, but typically have low surface area. In this work, we investigate a series of Ni-Fe oxides with high surface area and disordered morphology, obtained using an aerogel synthesis method. We evaluate the impact of different synthesis variables on the OER activity and demonstrate that heat treatment at high temperatures generates more ordered structure, resulting in a decrease in OER activity. Advanced characterization reveals that maintaining highly disordered and porous structure of the aerogel is essential to achieving high OER activity, as it enables the formation of highly OER-active lamellar structures of the catalyst.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 123843 |
| Journal | Applied Catalysis B: Environmental |
| Volume | 348 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jul 5 2024 |
Funding
Financial support was provided by the U.S. DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy , Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office, under the ElectroCat Consortium, DOE technology managers McKenzie Hubert and William Gibbons, and DOE program managers David Peterson and Dimitrios Papageorgopolous. Funding was also provided by the Los Alamos National Laboratory Directed Research & Development (LDRD) project 20210953PRD3. This work was authored in part by Los Alamos National Laboratory operated by Triad National Security , LLC under US DOE contract no. 89233218CNA000001 , by Oak Ridge National Laboratory operated by UT-Battelle, LLC, under contract no. DE-AC05-00OR22725 , by Argonne National Laboratory , a DOE Office of Science Laboratory managed by the University of Chicago Argonne, LLC under contract no. DE-AC-02-06CH11357, and by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory , operated by Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC, for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) under Contract No. DE-AC36–08GO28308 . STEM research conducted as part of a user project at the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences (CNMS), which is a US Department of Energy, Office of Science User Facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. This research used the resources of the Advanced Photon Source (APS), a U.S. DOE Office of Science User Facility operated for the DOE Office of Science by Argonne National Laboratory under Contract No. DE-AC02–06CH11357. X-ray absorption spectroscopy data were acquired at MRCAT at the APS. MRCAT operations are supported by the Department of Energy and the MRCAT member institutions. Financial support was provided by the U.S. DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office, under the ElectroCat Consortium, DOE technology managers McKenzie Hubert and William Gibbons, and DOE program managers David Peterson and Dimitrios Papageorgopolous. Funding was also provided by the Los Alamos National Laboratory Directed Research & Development (LDRD) project 20210953PRD3. This work was authored in part by Los Alamos National Laboratory operated by Triad National Security, LLC under US DOE contract no. 89233218CNA000001, by Oak Ridge National Laboratory operated by UT-Battelle, LLC, under contract no. DE-AC05-00OR22725, by Argonne National Laboratory, a DOE Office of Science Laboratory managed by the University of Chicago Argonne, LLC under contract no. DE-AC-02-06CH11357, and by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, operated by Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC, for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) under Contract No. DE-AC36–08GO28308. STEM research conducted as part of a user project at the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences (CNMS), which is a US Department of Energy, Office of Science User Facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. This research used the resources of the Advanced Photon Source (APS), a U.S. DOE Office of Science User Facility operated for the DOE Office of Science by Argonne National Laboratory under Contract No. DE-AC02–06CH11357. X-ray absorption spectroscopy data were acquired at MRCAT at the APS. MRCAT operations are supported by the Department of Energy and the MRCAT member institutions. Edward F. Holby from Theoretical Division at Los Alamos National Laboratory is acknowledged for fruitful discussion. The views expressed in the article do not necessarily represent the views of the DOE or the U.S. Government. The U.S. Government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the U.S. Government retains a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this work, or allow others to do so, for U.S. Government purposes.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| DOE Office of Science laboratory | |
| ElectroCat Consortium | |
| Los Alamos National Laboratory Directed Research & Development | |
| U.S. Government | |
| University of Chicago Argonne, LLC | DE-AC-02-06CH11357 |
| U.S. Department of Energy | 89233218CNA000001, DE-AC36–08GO28308 |
| Office of Science | DE-AC02–06CH11357 |
| Argonne National Laboratory | |
| Oak Ridge National Laboratory | DE-AC05-00OR22725 |
| National Renewable Energy Laboratory | |
| Laboratory Directed Research and Development | 20210953PRD3 |
| Los Alamos National Laboratory | |
| American Pain Society | |
| Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office |
Keywords
- Aerogel
- Anion exchange membrane
- Nickel-iron (oxy)hydroxide
- Oxygen evolution reaction
- Water electrolysis