Constructing Highly Porous Low Iridium Anode Catalysts Via Dealloying for Proton Exchange Membrane Water Electrolyzers

• DOI: 10.1002/adma.202409386
• Publication Date: 2024-12-05T08:01:47Z
• Authors: Jiashun Liang; Cehuang Fu; Sooyeon Hwang; Chaochao Dun; Liuxuan Luo; Zulipiya Shadike; Shuiyun Shen; Junliang Zhang; Hui Xu; Gang Wu
• Keywords: Membrane electrode assembly

Abstract Iridium (Ir) is the most active and durable anode catalyst for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) proton exchange membrane water electrolyzers (PEMWEs). However, their large‐scale applications are hindered by high costs scarcity of Ir. Lowering Ir loadings below 1.0 mgcm −2 causes significantly reduced PEMWE performance durability. Therefore, developing efficient low Ir‐based catalysts critical to widely commercializing PEMWEs. Herein, an approach presented designing porous metal aerogel (MA) via chemically dealloying IrCu alloys. The unique hierarchical pore structures multiple channels MA increase electrochemical surface area (ECSA) enhance OER activity compared conventional black catalysts, providing effective solution design low‐Ir with improved utilization enhanced stability. An optimized electrode assembly (MEA) loading 0.5 mg cm generated 2.0 A at 1.79 V, higher than a (1.63 ). MEA demonstrated acceptable decay rate ≈40 µV h −1 during durability tests (>1200 h) (400 h), outperforming commercial (175