IrO ₂ Supported on TiC and Ti ₂ AlC for Improved Oxygen Evolution Reaction Performances for Proton Exchange Membrane Water Electrolyzer

Abstract

Generating a cost‐effective precious‐metal catalyst is essential for achieving low‐cost, large‐scale green hydrogen production. Since the majority of the overpotential in the proton exchange membrane water electrolyzer arises during the oxygen evolution reaction (OER), the remarkable performance of the IrO 2 makes it an ideal anodic catalyst. Herein, a simple, straightforward method was used to prepare an IrO 2 ‐loaded transition‐metal carbide‐supported catalyst. The IrO 2 nanoparticles were loaded on TiC (Ir x TC 1‐x ) and Ti 2 AlC (Ir x TAC 1‐x ) at 20 to 80 wt% IrO 2 loadings, using the modified Adams fusion method. A diameter of 2 nm was obtained to exhibit improved OER performance in 0.5 M H 2 SO 4 compared with commercial IrO 2 . The catalysts showed a uniform distribution of IrO 2 nanoparticles on the supports. Overpotentials of 260 and 250 mV were obtained for Ir 80 TC 20 and Ir 80 TAC 20 at 10 mA cm −2 . The prepared Ir 80 TC 20 and Ir 80 TAC 20 showed good OER activity, delivering 10 mA cm −2 at 1.47 and 1.46 V versus RHE, respectively. The catalysts exhibited OER stability at 10 mA cm −2 for 73 and 58 h, respectively, for Ir 80 TC 20 and Ir 80 TAC 20 . The precursor solution proved significant recyclability, and the study demonstrated a new approach to rapidly design low‐cost, high‐performance anodic catalysts for overall OER performance.