Efficient and sustainable water electrolysis achieved by excess electron reservoir enabling charge replenishment to catalysts

Abstract

Suppressing the oxidation of active-Ir(III) in IrO_x catalysts is highly desirable to realize an efficient and durable oxygen evolution reaction in water electrolysis. Although charge replenishment from supports can be effective in preventing the oxidation of IrO_x catalysts, most supports have inherently limited charge transfer capability. Here, we demonstrate that an excess electron reservoir, which is a charged oxygen species, incorporated in antimony-doped tin oxide supports can effectively control the Ir oxidation states by boosting the charge donations to IrO_x catalysts. Both computational and experimental analyses reveal that the promoted charge transfer driven by excess electron reservoir is the key parameter for stabilizing the active-Ir(III) in IrO_x catalysts. When used in a polymer electrolyte membrane water electrolyzer, Ir catalyst on excess electron reservoir incorporated support exhibited 75 times higher mass activity than commercial nanoparticle-based catalysts and outstanding long-term stability for 250 h with a marginal degradation under a water-splitting current of 1 A cm⁻². Moreover, Ir-specific power (74.8 kW g⁻¹) indicates its remarkable potential for realizing gigawatt-scale H₂ production for the first time.

Charge replenishment from the supports to catalysts can play a key role in stabilizing active-Ir(III) to realize an efficient and durable oxygen evolution reaction. Here, the authors report an excess electron reservoir, greatly enhancing charge donation for improved water-splitting performance.