Investigation on the proton exchange membrane water electrolyzer using supported anode catalyst

The proton exchange membrane water electrolyzer (PEMWE) was investigated using a novel supported anode catalyst. The supported catalyst for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) was synthesized by chemical reduction and deposition under ultrasonic dispersion. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) reveals that iridium (Ir) particles with sizes of about 10-40 nm are mainly dispersed on the outside surface of titanium carbide (TiC). The PEMWE using the supported Ir/TiC (40 wt% Ir) as the anode catalyst shows the best performance among the supported catalysts of three different Ir contents. Increasing the cell temperature in the PEMWE can enhance the activity of the catalyst and lower the over-potential of the electrodes, which can improve the performance of the PEMWE. At a cell temperature of 80 degrees C and atmospheric pressure, the current densities of the best PEMWE at the potential of 1.8 and 2.0 V are 1002 and 1736 mA/cm(2), respectively. (C) 2008 Curtin University of Technology and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.