Support-free iridium hydroxide for high-efficiency proton-exchange membrane water electrolysis.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 40108156.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-025-58019-7 and PMC identifier 11923266.
- Licence recorded as CC BY-NC-ND.
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Abstract
The large-scale implementation of proton-exchange membrane water electrolyzers relies on high-performance membrane-electrode assemblies that use minimal iridium (Ir). In this study, we present a support-free Ir catalyst developed through a metal-oxide-based molecular self-assembly strategy. The unique self-assembly of densely isolated single IrO<sub>6</sub>H<sub>8</sub> octahedra leads to the formation of μm-sized hierarchically porous Ir hydroxide particles. The support-free Ir catalyst exhibits a high turnover frequency of 5.31 s⁻¹ at 1.52 V in the membrane-electrode assembly. In the corresponding proton-exchange membrane water electrolyzer, notable performance with a cell voltage of less than 1.75 V at 4.0 A cm⁻² (Ir loading of 0.375 mg cm⁻²) is achieved. This metal-oxide-based molecular self-assembly strategy may provide a general approach for the development of advanced support-free catalysts for high-performance membrane-electrode assemblies.