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| Home > Online First > Tuning and Electrochemical Characterization of the OER Performance of Ir-based Electrodes and the MEA Anode for PEM Water Electrolysis |
| Home > Online First > Tuning and Electrochemical Characterization of the OER Performance of Ir-based Electrodes and the MEA Anode for PEM Water Electrolysis |
| Poster (After Call) | FZJ-2025-04717 |
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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
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