Synthesis and characterization of electrocatalytic materials for water molecule splitting: application for anodic PEM water electrolysis

The development of clean energy systems as fuel cells is one of the main challenges in the energy conversion and storage. The production of fuels as hydrogen by water electrolysis requires the development of efficient anode materials in order to decrease the high overpotential observed and the cost related to this technology. Anode oxide materials based on Ru, Ir and/or a third non noble metal are synthesized by Pechini-Adams and Polyol methods. The physico-chemical characterizations have confirmed the formation of oxide structure and their high specific surface area. Among the different compositions of bimetallic Ru_xIr_1-xO₂ materials studied, the sample Ru0.9Ir0.1 has presented the highest electrocatalytic activity with a long-term durability. The addition of the oxide of a third metal such as tantalum, titanium, tin and niobium has permitted to decrease the Ru and Ir contents but also to enhance the performance of the bimetallic electrocatalysts. The anode electrocatalysts synthesized to promote the water oxidation reaction were optimized and used for long-term durability tests in single 5 and 25 cm² PEM electrolyzer cells over 1200 hours. (author)