Abstract
Significant reduction of noble metal catalyst loading and simplification of electrode fabrication are urgently needed in order to lower the cost of proton exchange membrane electrolyzer cells (PEMECs) for large-scale hydrogen production. Herein, we report an integrated electrode design comprising in-situ grown platinum nanowires (PtNW) on ultrathin titanium liquid/gas diffusion layers (LGDLs) via a cost-effective and green chemical synthesis approach. The ultrathin integrated PtNW electrodes showed a low cell voltage of 1.643 V and high efficiency of 90.08% at 1000 mA cm−2 using about 15 times lower catalyst loadings than a conventional catalyst-coated membrane in PEMEC tests. Ex-situ electrochemical characterizations and microscale visualizations further reveal that PtNW electrodes display highly efficient hydrogen evolution reactions and excellent electrode durability due to high active surface area, favorable bubble detachment, and structural stability. This work provides new insights into catalyst layer design and facile ultrathin electrode fabrication for more compact and low-cost PEM electrolyzers, fuel cells and other systems.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 128333 |
| Journal | Chemical Engineering Journal |
| Volume | 410 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Apr 15 2021 |
Funding
The authors greatly appreciate the support from U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) under the Fuel Cell Technologies Office Award Number DE-EE0008426 and DE-EE0008423, National Renewable Energy Laboratory under Award DE-AC36-08GO28308, and National Energy Technology Laboratory under Award DE-FE0011585. A portion of the research was performed as part of a user project through Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, which is a U.S. DOE Office of Science User Facility, and by instrumentation provided by the U.S. DOE Office of Nuclear Energy, Fuel Cycle R&D Program, and the Nuclear Science User Facilities. The authors also wish to express their appreciation to Dale Hensley, Dayrl Briggs, Alexander Terekhov, Douglas Warnberg, and Dr. Brian Canfield for their help. The authors greatly appreciate the support from U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) under the Fuel Cell Technologies Office Award Number DE-EE0008426 and DE-EE0008423, National Renewable Energy Laboratory under Award DE-AC36-08GO28308, and National Energy Technology Laboratory under Award DE-FE0011585. A portion of the research was performed as part of a user project through Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, which is a U.S. DOE Office of Science User Facility, and by instrumentation provided by the U.S. DOE Office of Nuclear Energy, Fuel Cycle R&D Program, and the Nuclear Science User Facilities. The authors also wish to express their appreciation to Dale Hensley, Dayrl Briggs, Alexander Terekhov, Douglas Warnberg, and Dr. Brian Canfield for their help.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| Oak Ridge National Laboratory | |
| Oak Ridge National Laboratory | |
| U.S. Department of Energy | |
| Office of Science | |
| Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy | |
| National Renewable Energy Laboratory | DE-AC36-08GO28308 |
| Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office | DE-EE0008423, DE-EE0008426 |
| National Energy Technology Laboratory | DE-FE0011585 |
Keywords
- Gas diffusion electrode
- Green chemical synthesis
- Hydrogen evolution reaction
- PEM electrolyzer
- Pt nanowires
