Improving Electrochemical Durability of PEM Water Electrolyser Electrodes with Carbon Nanofiber-Enhanced Low Iridium Catalysts

Research question

To succeed in limiting global warming to well below 2 °C, a key to success is fossil-free hydrogen produced from electrolysis. However, to realize the potential of green hydrogen we need better and cheaper electrolysers. This project aims to develop new catalysts materials for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in proton exchange membrane water electrolysers (PEMWEs) by creating supported anode catalysts where the active catalyst is placed on a porous and stable support of Carbon nanofibers (CNFs), allowing a higher utilization of iridium as well as a greatly increased power density of the electrolyser. The goal is to have a catalyst material that is better than current ones in terms of activity (efficiency) and lifetime or on par with current catalyst materials but with a significant reduction in platinum group metal (PGM) loading. This project will contribute to the understanding how a durable porous transport electrode (PTE), i.e. a PTL that comes with a catalyst layer, can be integrated with the rest of the cell to accelerate the next step in PEMWE technology scaling.

Sustainability aspects

PEMWE technology can contribute to the conversion and storage of renewable power into long-term chemical energy storage. This is only possible in connection with a growth in renewables as we currently see in wind and solar. An abundance of cheap and robust PEM water electrolysers will also remove the greenhouse gas emissions that are inevitable in the so-called hard-to-abate sectors like ammonia-based fertilizers or steel manufacturing from iron ore. In these sectors both the hydrogen bonds and the process heat create value. Thus, PEM technology solves both energy and feedstock problems in hard-to-abate sectors. With a reduced amount of iridium and a wider power range, PEMWE will also offer new ways to balance the electricity system and enable more renewable electricity in the grid.