Ultralow Ru-doped NiFe catalyst on stainless-steel fibers for enhanced oxygen evolution reaction in anion-exchange membrane water electrolysis

초록

Designing high-performance, stable electrodes for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is essential for anion-exchange membrane water electrolysis (AEMWE) in industrial-scale hydrogen production. AEMWE has not yet been commercialized due to the high cost of precious metal catalysts and unsatisfactory performance of non-precious metal catalysts. Although various anodes are being developed to replace expensive Ir-based catalysts, low-cost catalysts that demonstrate a balance of performance and stability remain limited. In the present study, we fabricated a NiFe catalyst on a corrosion-resistant stainless-steel fiber paper substrate using a simple electrodeposition method and introduced small amounts of Ru via galvanic displacement. In half-cell tests, an enhanced overpotential of 229 mV was observed for the Ru-NiFe/SS anode at 10 mA/cm2. Using Ru-NiFe/SS as an anode for OER in AEMWE assembled with a commercial Pt/C cathode exhibited high performance with a current density of 8.73 A cm−2 (at 2.05 Vcell and 80℃). Long-term stability tests also showed that the Ru-NiFe/SS anode had higher stability than commercial IrO2 electrodes at 1 A cm−2 and 80℃ for 50 h. Therefore, Ru-NiFe/SS can be considered an alternative to conventional Ir-based electrodes to reduce hydrogen production costs. © 2024 Elsevier B.V.

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