Abstract
The porous transport layer (PTL)/catalyst layer (CL) interface plays a crucial role in the achievement of high performance and efficiency in polymer electrolyte membrane water electrolyzers (PEMWEs). This study investigated the effects of the PTL/CL interface on the degradation of membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs) during a 4000 h test, comparing the MEAs assembled with uncoated and Ir-coated Ti PTLs. Our results show that compared to an uncoated PTL/CL interface, an optimized interface formed when using a platinum group metal (PGM) coating, i.e., an iridium layer at the PTL/CL interface, and reduced the degradation of the MEA. The agglomeration and formation of voids and cracks could be found for both MEAs after the long-term test, but the incorporation of an Ir coating on the PTL did not affect the morphology change or oxidation of IrOx in the catalyst layer. In addition, our studies suggest that the ionomer loss and restructuring of the anodic MEA can also be reduced by Ir coating of the PTL/CL interface. Optimization of the PTL/CL interface improves the performance and durability of a PEMWE.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 034508 |
| Journal | Journal of the Electrochemical Society |
| Volume | 170 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Mar 2023 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2023 The Author(s). Published on behalf of The Electrochemical Society by IOP Publishing Limited.
Funding
The authors also would like to thank Andreas Everwand and Dr. Marcin Rasinski for SEM and EDX measurements. This work makes use of the E-XPS system at the Colorado School of Mines, 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). 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. Access to the infrastructure at the Ernst Ruska-Centre, Forschungszentrum Jülich is gratefully acknowledged. Conflict of Interest. The authors declare no conflict of interest. The authors also would like to thank Andreas Everwand and Dr. Marcin Rasinski for SEM and EDX measurements. This work makes use of the E-XPS system at the Colorado School of Mines, 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). 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. Access to the infrastructure at the Ernst Ruska-Centre, Forschungszentrum Jülich is gratefully acknowledged. Conflict of Interest. The authors declare no conflict of interest.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| U.S. Government | |
| National Science Foundation | 1626619 |
| U.S. Department of Energy | DE-AC36–08GO28308 |
| Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy | |
| National Renewable Energy Laboratory | |
| Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office |
Keywords
- PEM water electrolyzer
- catalyst layer
- degradation
- iridium oxide
- membrane electrode assembly (MEA)
- porous transport layer
