Silver Compositing Boosts Water Electrolysis Activity and Durability of RuO2 in a Proton-Exchange-Membrane Water Electrolyzer

Proton-exchange-membrane water electrolyzers (PEMWEs) are of particular interest for green hydrogen production, where the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) at the anode largely determines the overall efficiency. Up to now, only ultrafine IrO2 catalyst gives desirable performance, while its scarcity an...

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Main Authors: Tang, Jiayi, Zhong, Y., Su, Chao, Shao, Zongping
Format: Journal Article
Published: 2023
Online Access:http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DP200103315
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/94761
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author Tang, Jiayi
Zhong, Y.
Su, Chao
Shao, Zongping
author_facet Tang, Jiayi
Zhong, Y.
Su, Chao
Shao, Zongping
author_sort Tang, Jiayi
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Proton-exchange-membrane water electrolyzers (PEMWEs) are of particular interest for green hydrogen production, where the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) at the anode largely determines the overall efficiency. Up to now, only ultrafine IrO2 catalyst gives desirable performance, while its scarcity and high cost inhibit the widespread application. RuO2 catalyst is the most promising alternative, while its practical application is greatly hindered by poor durability. Herein, the greatly boosted performance of conventional sub-micrometer RuO2 by compositing with Ag is reported, and both the morphology of Ag and the compositing way significantly affect the electrolysis performance. The PEMWE fabricated with a two-layer RuO2/Ag nanowire (NWs) composite anode achieves 1.77 A cm−2 at 2.00 V, due to a prominent 44.6 times increase of the electronic conductivity, which greatly improves the catalyst utilization. In addition, mass transportation at high-current-density region is enhanced due to the highly porous feature of Ag NW layer. Long-term stability under high current density of 1 A cm−2 for 100 h is proved with the composite anode, due to the suppressed degradation of RuO2 by silver compositing. This work may accelerate the widespread commercialization of PEMWEs by providing a new way for developing IrO2-free anode.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-947612024-05-07T06:32:19Z Silver Compositing Boosts Water Electrolysis Activity and Durability of RuO2 in a Proton-Exchange-Membrane Water Electrolyzer Tang, Jiayi Zhong, Y. Su, Chao Shao, Zongping Proton-exchange-membrane water electrolyzers (PEMWEs) are of particular interest for green hydrogen production, where the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) at the anode largely determines the overall efficiency. Up to now, only ultrafine IrO2 catalyst gives desirable performance, while its scarcity and high cost inhibit the widespread application. RuO2 catalyst is the most promising alternative, while its practical application is greatly hindered by poor durability. Herein, the greatly boosted performance of conventional sub-micrometer RuO2 by compositing with Ag is reported, and both the morphology of Ag and the compositing way significantly affect the electrolysis performance. The PEMWE fabricated with a two-layer RuO2/Ag nanowire (NWs) composite anode achieves 1.77 A cm−2 at 2.00 V, due to a prominent 44.6 times increase of the electronic conductivity, which greatly improves the catalyst utilization. In addition, mass transportation at high-current-density region is enhanced due to the highly porous feature of Ag NW layer. Long-term stability under high current density of 1 A cm−2 for 100 h is proved with the composite anode, due to the suppressed degradation of RuO2 by silver compositing. This work may accelerate the widespread commercialization of PEMWEs by providing a new way for developing IrO2-free anode. 2023 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/94761 10.1002/smsc.202300055 http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DP200103315 http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DP200103332 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ fulltext
spellingShingle Tang, Jiayi
Zhong, Y.
Su, Chao
Shao, Zongping
Silver Compositing Boosts Water Electrolysis Activity and Durability of RuO2 in a Proton-Exchange-Membrane Water Electrolyzer
title Silver Compositing Boosts Water Electrolysis Activity and Durability of RuO2 in a Proton-Exchange-Membrane Water Electrolyzer
title_full Silver Compositing Boosts Water Electrolysis Activity and Durability of RuO2 in a Proton-Exchange-Membrane Water Electrolyzer
title_fullStr Silver Compositing Boosts Water Electrolysis Activity and Durability of RuO2 in a Proton-Exchange-Membrane Water Electrolyzer
title_full_unstemmed Silver Compositing Boosts Water Electrolysis Activity and Durability of RuO2 in a Proton-Exchange-Membrane Water Electrolyzer
title_short Silver Compositing Boosts Water Electrolysis Activity and Durability of RuO2 in a Proton-Exchange-Membrane Water Electrolyzer
title_sort silver compositing boosts water electrolysis activity and durability of ruo2 in a proton-exchange-membrane water electrolyzer
url http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DP200103315
http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DP200103315
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/94761