Aging gracefully? Investigating iridium oxide ink's impact on microstructure, catalyst/ionomer interface, and PEMWE performance

Xiang Lyu, Jayson Foster, Robin Rice, Elliot Padgett, Erin B. Creel, Jianlin Li, Haoran Yu, David A. Cullen, Nancy N. Kariuki, Jae Hyung Park, Deborah J. Myers, Scott Mauger, Guido Bender, Svitlana Pylypenko, Alexey Serov

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

13 Scopus citations

Abstract

In this study, we conducted a thorough investigation of the impact of aging iridium oxide (IrO2) perfluorosulfonic acid ionomer ink for up to 14 days on the properties of the ink and the resulting catalyst layers. We examined ink properties, such as zeta potential, dynamic light scattering (DLS), density, surface tension, and rheology, as functions of ink aging time. To evaluate the microstructure and catalyst/ionomer interface, we employed transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray scattering, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) techniques. Furthermore, we assessed the effect of ink aging on the performance of proton exchange membrane water electrolyzers (PEMWEs). Our findings reveal that most ink properties remain stable for 14 days. The variations in PEMWE cell performance are minimal, and no clear trend is observed in relation to ink aging time. This study demonstrates that the effects of aging the inks for 14 days on ink properties, catalyst layer structure, catalyst/ionomer interface, and PEMWE performance are negligible, indicating a substantial time window after ink preparation without any significant changes in its properties. These insights provide crucial guidance for the commercial production and coating processes of ink, which is necessary for scaling up PEM technologies to meet future demand.

Original languageEnglish
Article number233503
JournalJournal of Power Sources
Volume581
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 15 2023

Funding

This research at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), managed by UT Battelle, LLC, for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) under contract DE-AC05-00OR22725 , was sponsored by the U.S. DOE H2NEW consortium. Colorado School of Mines (CSM) authors would like to acknowledge funding support from NSF PFI-RP award #1919280 -Commercializing active and durable materials and electrodes for fuel cell and electrolyzer applications, NSF award #2132659-Catalyst-ionomer interactions in electrochemical systems, and the Colorado Energy Research Collaboratory. This work makes use of the E-XPS system at the CSM, which was supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1626619 . This work was authored in part 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. Funding was provided by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office (HFTO), Award No. DE-EE0008836 . This research used resources of the Advanced Photon Source (APS) a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science User Facility operated for the DOE Office of Science by Argonne National Laboratory. Argonne is managed for the U.S. Department of Energy by the University of Chicago Argonne, LLC, under contract DE-AC-02-06CH11357. The authors thank Jan Ilavsky and Ivan Kuzmenko of Argonne's X-ray Science Division for building, maintaining, and operating the USAXS/SAXS/WAXS beam line at the APS and for their valuable data analysis advice. 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. This manuscript has been authored in part by UT-Battelle, LLC, under contract DE-AC05-00OR22725 with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). 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 manuscript, or allow others to do so, for U.S. government purposes. DOE will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan ( http://energy.gov/downloads/doe-public-access-plan ). This research at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), managed by UT Battelle, LLC, for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) under contract DE-AC05-00OR22725, was sponsored by the U.S. DOE H2NEW consortium. Colorado School of Mines (CSM) authors would like to acknowledge funding support from NSF PFI-RP award #1919280-Commercializing active and durable materials and electrodes for fuel cell and electrolyzer applications, NSF award #2132659-Catalyst-ionomer interactions in electrochemical systems, and the Colorado Energy Research Collaboratory. This work makes use of the E-XPS system at the CSM, which was supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1626619. This work was authored in part 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. Funding was provided by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office (HFTO), Award No. DE-EE0008836. This research used resources of the Advanced Photon Source (APS) a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science User Facility operated for the DOE Office of Science by Argonne National Laboratory. Argonne is managed for the U.S. Department of Energy by the University of Chicago Argonne, LLC, under contract DE-AC-02-06CH11357. The authors thank Jan Ilavsky and Ivan Kuzmenko of Argonne's X-ray Science Division for building, maintaining, and operating the USAXS/SAXS/WAXS beam line at the APS and for their valuable data analysis advice. 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.

Keywords

  • Aging effect
  • Iridium oxide
  • Microstructure and interface of catalyst/ionomer
  • PEMEC
  • PEMWE
  • XPS

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