Abstract
Polymer electrolyte membrane water electrolysis (PEMWE) has the fatal drawback of using expensive noble metal catalysts, especially the rare iridium substances in the anode. Therefore, improvements in catalyst utilization are required to achieve high performance and durability even at a minimized use of catalyst. One option is introducing a titanium-based microporous layer (MPL) at the interface of the catalyst layer and porous transport layer (PTL) to create an increased contact area and form a better electrical connection. However, how the MPL should be designed and manufactured is not fully understand yet. Herein, we present a decal-transfer method, which is a convenient process to manufacture a uniform and thin MPL on a porous substrate layer. Based on this method, we investigated the two-phase transport phenomena of the MPL by varying the particle size and thickness of the MPL and the porosity of the substrate layer. It is concluded that a smaller micrometer-scale titanium particle size is advantageous in both catalyst utilization and water transport, resulting in lower kinetic and mass transport overpotential. Furthermore, the interface property acted as the determinant factor for the overall performance, while the bulk property of the PTL was not a critical factor unless it did not hinder the mass transport of oxygen gas in-plane direction.
Published Version
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