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@INPROCEEDINGS{Frhlich:1048577,
      author       = {Fröhlich, Kristina and Hilche, Tobias and Liu, Jialiang
                      and Karl, André and Jodat, Eva and Eichel, Rüdiger-A.},
      title        = {{T}uning and {E}lectrochemical {C}haracterization of the
                      {OER} {P}erformance of {I}r-based {E}lectrodes and the {MEA}
                      {A}node for {PEM} {W}ater {E}lectrolysis},
      reportid     = {FZJ-2025-04717},
      year         = {2025},
      abstract     = {Proton exchange membrane (PEM) water electrolysis is a
                      technology for large-scale hydrogen production as a clean
                      and sustainable energy source.[1] The beginning of operation
                      (BOO) of a running electrolyzer is commonly used as a
                      reference to characterize membrane electrode assembly (MEA)
                      materials and to predict the lifetime under reliable
                      operating conditions.[2,3] However, the performance of the
                      PEM electrolytic cell might be inconsistent during the BOO
                      phase, which raises the demand for an initial processing
                      step (conditioning) to activate the MEA. In short-term
                      operation, an improvement of the cell performance was
                      observed for different conditioning procedures, such as acid
                      treatment and MEA hydration in water at elevated
                      temperatures, by increasing the proton conductivity of PEM
                      and ionomer, and reducing the ohmic resistance of the
                      electrolytic cell.[4]The oxygen evolution reaction (OER) at
                      the MEA anode is the rate determining step dominating the
                      overall cell performance. Although the anode catalyst
                      material defines the OER reaction kinetics and the long-time
                      stability of the electrode, the electronic conductivity is
                      crucial to achieve high performance efficiencies. Since
                      different anode compositions and conditioning procedures may
                      have an impact on the electronic conductivity and
                      electrochemical behavior of the catalyst electrode, an
                      electrochemical analysis is indispensable to correlate the
                      electrode properties to the MEA performance in the
                      electrolytic cell. To address this issue, we analyzed
                      Ir-based electrodes and MEA anodes ex-situ applying a 3- or
                      4-electrode setup. Cyclic voltammetry (CV), linear sweep
                      voltammetry (LSV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy
                      (EIS) are some of the most used electrochemical methods to
                      characterize catalyst materials to provide information about
                      the catalytic activity, kinetics and electrochemically
                      active surface area. Furthermore, with the help of scanning
                      electrochemical microscopy (SECM), it is possible to get
                      insights into the homogeneity of the catalyst active
                      surface.[5]In this study, we present results of the effect
                      of different conditioning procedures on the electrochemical
                      performance of commercial MEAs. Conditioning protocols, such
                      as hydration, chemical treatment, potentiostatic and
                      potentiodynamic stress tests, were investigated at Ir-based
                      anodes in an ex-situ setup. The electrochemical
                      characterization on the conditioned anodes showed that
                      depending on the preceding treatment, a positive or negative
                      impact on the electrode impedance, electronic conductivity
                      and current response is obtained.Funding: This work was
                      financially supported by the Bundesministerium für Bildung
                      und Forschung (BMBF): Wasserstoff - Leitprojekt H2Giga,
                      Teilvorhaben DERIEL (project number 03HY122C), SEGIWA
                      (project number 03HY121B).[1] A. S. Aricò et al (2013)
                      Appl. Electrochem. 43 107, DOI 10.1007/s10800-012-0490-5[2]
                      N. Sezer et al (2025) Mater. Sci. Energy Technol. 8 44, DOI
                      10.1016/j.mset.2024.07.006[3] M. Suermann et al (2019) J.
                      Electrochem. Soc. 166 F645, DOI 10.1149/2.1451910jes[4] N.
                      Wolf et al (2025) Electrochem. Sci. Adv. 0:e202400038, DOI
                      10.1002/elsa.202400038[5] D. Polcari et al (2016) Chem. Rev.
                      116 13234, DOI 10.1021/acs.chemrev.6b00067},
      month         = {Sep},
      date          = {2025-09-07},
      organization  = {76th Annual Meeting of the
                       International Society of
                       Electrochemistry, Mainz (Germany), 7
                       Sep 2025 - 12 Sep 2025},
      subtyp        = {After Call},
      cin          = {IET-1},
      cid          = {I:(DE-Juel1)IET-1-20110218},
      pnm          = {1231 - Electrochemistry for Hydrogen (POF4-123)},
      pid          = {G:(DE-HGF)POF4-1231},
      typ          = {PUB:(DE-HGF)24},
      url          = {https://juser.fz-juelich.de/record/1048577},
}