University of Toronto

Purpose

Aiming to circumvent reliance on precious Ir-based OER catalysts used in polymer electrolyte membrane water electrolyzers for green hydrogen production, this Project will discover highly active and stable Ir-free acidic OER electrocatalysts. Their reaction mechanism and degradation pattern operating under industrially relevant conditions will be investigated. Different parameters in catalysts preparation including annealing temperature, feeding ratios, reaction time, and reaction approaches will be explored to study their correlation with the electrocatalytic performance. Spectroscopic tools at different dimension scales involving Raman, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometer (FT-IR), X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS), and differential electrochemical mass spectroscopy (DEMS) will be carried out to study the lattice structure, coordination environment, valence state evolution and overall mechanism of the catalysts during the electrolysis at working conditions. The Project will also attempt to cross-validate density functional theory (DFT) modelling with experimental results to explore the proposed working/degradation mechanism and optimize the lattice structure and exposed facets of the electrocatalysts.