Characterization of Base Metal Catalysts with Platinum to Reduce PGM Content in a PEM Electrolyzer Cell

Abstract

The electrolysis of water is evaluated as a potentially efficient, low cost means of hydrogen production. The theoretical energy and voltage, current, and energy efficiencies of water electrolysis are considered. Various catalyst materials used in the fabrication of membrane electrode assemblies will be evaluated for this study. Ternary element mixtures such as Pt-Ni-Co were introduced at the cathode side to reduce Pt loading, but keeping the electrolyzer performance the same as with a pure Pt catalyst loading. The catalysts were applied to a membrane electrode assembly (MEA) and characterized by cyclic voltammetry (CV). The Tafel slope for the Pt-Ni-Co mixtures gave a Tafel slope of 86 mV dec⁻¹ at lower temperatures and 134 mV dec⁻¹ at higher temperatures of 80°C. The cyclic voltammetry results show higher electrocatalytic activity for the oxidation formation of hydrogen on ternary catalyst mixtures compared to the platinum catalyst.

Keywords:

• Electrolyzer
• Hydrogen production
• Nickel cobalt catalyst
• Platinum
• Polymer electrode membrane

Acknowledgments

This paper is part of a Special Issue of Analytical Letters focusing on papers presented at the 10th International Symposium on Kinetics in Analytical Chemistry (KAC-10).

This work was financially supported by Hydrogen South Africa, Innoventon/DSTC Institute of Chemical Technology, NRF, and Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University.