Achieving Cost Reduction in PEM Electrolysis by Material Development

Abstract

Hydrogen is expected to play an important role as a crosslinking technology between power generation on one hand and transport and industry on the other hand. It can directly replace fossil fuels in transport and industry when produced by water electrolysis renewable energies such as solar or wind, which are converted with low efficiencies. The relevant technologies are either the mature alkaline electrolysis or the newer proton exchange membrane (PEM) water electrolysis. For PEM electrolysis in particular, key components that determine the stack cost are the titanium-based contact elements, such as the bipolar plates (BPP) and the current collectors (CC), and the high iridium loading of electrocatalyst for the OER in state of art membrane electrode assemblies (MEA). However, the cost structure depends on the specific design of the electrolyser. This paper will discuss strategies for cost reduction by synthesizing unsupported and supported IrOx and IrRuOx electrocatalyst with the aim of lowering the high loading. Our synthesis procedure consists of producing nano-sized iridium particles by reducing iridium chloride (IrCl3) with conventional sodium borohydride at room temperature and in water-free environment. This concept can also be applied to supported and alloy electrocatalysts. The supports need to be highly stable and exhibit sufficient electronic conductivity. The enhancement of activity achieved with improved electrocatalyst reaches a factor of about15 with respect to the best commercially available electrocatalyst. Additionally, the cost reduction achieved by a titanium coating for stainless steel BPPs or CCs for PEM electrolysis will be discussed. We use vacuum plasma spraying (VPS) to coat either dense coatings for corrosion protection of stainless steel components or build up titanium diffusion layers with defined porosity as contact elements for the MEA. The conductivity of the titanium coating can be improved by well-known Pt or Au additions; however, we have also developed promising non-noble conductivity enhancement elements. Furthermore, the VPS coating and production procedure is adaptable to large-scale industrial production.