Protocol for Screening Water Oxidation or Reduction Electrocatalyst Activity in a Three-Electrode Cell for Alkaline Exchange Membrane Electrolysis

Abstract

Accurate and reproducible screening of the electrocatalytic activity of novel materials for Oxygen Evolution Reaction (OER) and Hydrogen Evolution Reaction (HER) requires establishing an easily adoptable harmonized testing protocol. Herein, we describe a robust, instrumentation-independent testing technique utilizing a three-electrode cell with a fully immersed working electrode. Compared to rotating disk electrode (RDE) techniques, this protocol produces current densities close to those obtained in real electrolyzers and eliminates the usage of the expensive RDE apparatus.

Electrochemical Activation of Atomic-Layer-Deposited Nickel Oxide for Water Oxidation

“…In addition, a reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE) (Mini-HydroFlex, Gaskatel) and a graphite rod (Redox.me) were used as the reference and counter electrodes, respectively. It is suggested to employ a graphite rod instead of platinum (Pt) as the counter electrode when examining working electrodes that do not contain platinum group metals (PGMs) . This recommendation is based on the (electro) dissolution and electrodeposition of Pt onto the working electrode, which can cause changes in its surface chemical composition.…”

“…It is suggested to employ a graphite rod instead of platinum (Pt) as the counter electrode when examining working electrodes that do not contain platinum group metals (PGMs). 60 This recommendation is based on the (electro) dissolution and electrodeposition of Pt onto the working electrode, which can cause changes in its surface chemical composition. These modifications have a notable impact on the mechanism and kinetics of the studied process.…”

Precious Metal Free Hydrogen Evolution Catalyst Design and Application

“…The effects are especially pronounced when assessing low catalyst loadings (μg–mg) and ultralow activities (μA–mA) as is typical for half-cell measurements. A range of methodologies have been utilized and protocols have been proposed over the years to ensure that due care is taken in ensuring the analytical equipment is ultraclean and methodologies are comparable when assessing electrochemical performances and durabilities. , Indeed, the choice of test vessels, electrolytes, electrodes and configuration of these components into the analytical system need to be carefully considered when assessing activities and durabilities in different cell configurations, electrochemical environments and modes of assessments . In this section we review these various proposed best practices of relevance to HER catalyst screening.…”

“…A similar benchmarking exercise has not been undertaken for the plethora of powder catalysts. Despite the enormity of the task to analyze and compare the activities of myriad types of precious metal free catalysts, reproducibility of the data and comparison of catalytic properties can be facilitated if the community ensures recommended good practices are followed strictly (refs , , , , − , , − , , , and ).…”

Standard operating procedure for post-operation component disassembly and observation of benchtop water electrolyzer testing

“…Multiple protocols specific to low-temperature electrolysis systems have been published. However, these are specific to individual components, such as catalysts (Alia and Denilovic, 2022;Creel et al, 2022), porous transport layers (PTLs) (Quimet et al, 2022), or membranes (Arges et al, 2022;Wang et al, 2022). Once a material passes this initial screening, the next step is to understand the operational performance in a full cell.…”