Doped tin oxide aerogels as oxygen evolution reaction catalyst supports

Designing low cost, highly-active and stable oxygen evolution reaction (OER) catalysts for Proton Exchange Membrane Water Electrolysers (PEMWE) anodes is an important topic for industry and academia. A possible strategy to alleviate the cost of the anodic catalyst consists in synthesizing iridium oxide (IrOx) nanoparticles and dispersing them on an electron-conducting and highly-porous support such as SnO2 doped with hypervalent cations e.g. Sb(V) or Ta(V). Herein, we show the benefits of Sb- and Ta- doped SnO2 aerogels synthesized by a sol-gel route. The effect of the dopant nature on the aerogel's properties (as morphology, structure, conductivity, etc.) was investigated using a set of physical and chemical techniques. The electrocatalytic performance of the synthesized nanocatalysts towards the OER was also assessed in rotating disk electrode (RDE). Supported IrOx catalysts showed both higher specific and mass activity and stability than unsupported IrOx nanoparticles. (C) 2019 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.