Ruthenium-Zirconium Oxides As Highly Stable Oxygen Evolution Electrocatalysts

Abstract

The further development and utilization of proton exchange membrane water electrolyzers (PEMWEs) is hindered by the cost, activity, and stability of the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) electrocatalyst. Iridium oxide (IrOx) is currently the go-to OER electrocatalyst, as it has been shown to have relative high activity and stability when compared to other OER active catalysts. However, iridium is one of the rarest elements in the Earth’s crust and therefore cost is a major limitation of iridium-based electrocatalysts. Ruthenium oxide (RuO2) is a highly active OER catalyst; although, it is highly unstable in acidic media and undergoes catalyst degradation over time. We investigated modifying RuO2 by substituting zirconium, which is highly stable in acidic conditions, to provide an electrocatalyst with increased stability. Our study explored the effect of low and moderate zirconium concentrations within RuO2 (Ru1-xZrxO2) on the structure, morphology, OER activity, and stability. The structure and morphology were characterized by X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. Preliminary results from XRD showed no observable phase separation at low Zr concentrations, and peak shifts were indicative of the incorporation of the larger Zr ion into the crystal structure of rutile RuO2. The OER activities and stabilities of Ru1-xZrxO2 were measured using a rotating disk electrode configuration and compared with RuO2. Our preliminary results show that the OER activity and stability are strongly affected by the addition of Zr and there may be an optimal concentration range for obtaining a balance between OER activity and stability. Our work furthers the understanding of how to develop OER electrocatalysts with increased stability while maintaining a high OER activity, which is crucial to the large-scale adoption of PEMWE’s.