Abstract
To reach Department of Energy (DOE) target of 1$ cost for 1 kg of H2 production in 1 decade the cost of green hydrogen generation needs to decrease. IrOx is a used as an electrocatalyst in anode electrode of proton exchange membrane water electrolyzers (PEMWE) and its loading must decrease below 2 mg/cm2 to reach the cost targets for electrolysis. One of the hurdles of catalyst layers with low IrOx loading is the inplane electric conductivity, which will be low as IrOx is not supported by carbon or other conductive additive. Therefore, the design of porous transport layers (PTLs) becomes critical to ensure a good interface contact area with the catalyst but at the same time optimal oxygen removal from the catalyst. In our earlier study we showed that PTLs with intermediate porosities of ~60 % achieved this goal [1]. In this work we use operando x-ray computed tomography to visualize oxygen transport inside the PTLs for the cells having various catalyst loadings and various PTLs (sintered and fiber). Using a staining agent of NaI we were able to differentiate between water and oxygen as shown by Figure 1. Oxygen transport pathways and oxygen content within the PTLs was studied using various cell configurations and current densities. This work will identify a path forward for designing PTLs for PEMWE.
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