Femtosecond laser-induced surface structuring of the porous transport layers in proton exchange membrane water electrolysis

Abstract

Experimentally determined reduction of both ohmic and mass transport overpotential due to femtosecond laser-induced surface structuring of titanium-based porous transport layers at the interface to the catalyst layer.

Insights into Interfacial and Bulk Transport Phenomena Affecting Proton Exchange Membrane Water Electrolyzer Performance at Ultra‐Low Iridium Loadings

“…We note that the PEMWE performance in this paper is better by 50 mV at 3 A cm −2 , while simultaneously decreasing the catalyst loading by two orders of magnitude and increasing the membrane thickness by 2 mil (Figure S8, Supporting Information). [18] Compared to other literatures, [18,[25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33] the PEMWEs performance in this work also showed superiority with much lower Ir loadings with thicker membrane (Table S1, Supporting Information).…”

“…This conclusion is directly at odds with the prescription for the need for microporous layers for PTLs. [ 18,25 ] Therefore, we emphasize that this conclusion applies to PTLs that have uniform and not graded porosity, as Schuler and co‐workers [ 18 ] showed the higher the contact area between PTL and catalyst layer, the higher the catalyst utilization, however in that case a microporous layer was used to increase the interfacial density. Here we find, for very dense interfaces catalyst accessibility suffers.…”

Electrochemical Carbon Dioxide Reduction on Femtosecond Laser-Processed Copper Electrodes: Effect on the Liquid Products by Structuring and Doping

“…To assess the role of these parameters, we structure copper electrodes through femtosecond laser (fs-laser) irradiation. , Laser-induced surface structures can be tuned from tens of nanometer to 100 μm . The enhanced surface structures have been proved beneficial in electrocatalytic reactions, especially in electrolysis technologies. − Although it is an ablation process, elements from the femtosecond laser process environment are incorporated. , Therefore, additional features are enabled, such as hyperdoping , or an increased catalytic activity due to further added catalyst elements, thus allowing us to assess the role of dopants on the CO 2 RR selectivity.…”

Increasing the performance of an anion-exchange membrane electrolyzer operating in pure water with a nickel-based microporous layer

“…1,2 Among water-electrolyzer technologies, alkaline water electrolysis (AWE) is the most established, whereas proton-exchange membrane water electrolysis (PEMWE) is more efficient for the same hydrogen-production capacity and it produces a higher gas purity. [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15] PEMWE owes these advantages to its dense cation-exchange membrane and the high kinetic activity of catalysts in acidic environments. The membrane allows a more compact stack design for PEMWE compared with AWE (enabling high-pressure operation), and it requires only water as the feed.…”