Significant Progress Achieved in Low-Iridium Membrane Electrodes for Proton Exchange Membrane Water Electrolysis Hydrogen Production, Shanghai Advanced Research Institute of Chinese Academy of Sciences Realizes Technological Breakthrough

Recently, the Green Hydrogen and High-Performance Energy Storage Research Team at the Shanghai Advanced Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences (hereinafter referred to as "Shanghai Advanced Research Institute") has made a significant breakthrough in the study of low-iridium membrane electrodes, providing new insights for the low-iridium application of PEMWE.

The team proposed a multi-level structural design concept of "cone array + ultra-thin Pt layer + Pt nanoflowers," precisely constructing the membrane electrode through three processes: nanoimprint lithography, ion sputtering, and in-situ growth. This approach simultaneously addresses two core challenges of traditional membrane electrodes (MEAs): limited conductivity and mass transfer. Among these, the ultra-thin Pt layer serves a dual function: on one hand, it enhances in-plane conductivity by 12.3 times, and on the other hand, it acts as a nucleation site to induce the growth of Pt nanoflowers, achieving synergistic optimization of structure and performance.

Experimental data show that this multi-level structured membrane electrode achieves high performance under an ultra-low iridium loading (0.096 mg cm⁻²), saving over 95% of iridium compared to traditional MEAs. Moreover, at a current density of 2.0 A cm⁻², the cell voltage is only 1.758 V, outperforming the 1.797 V of traditional MEAs with high iridium loading (2 mg cm⁻²).

This achievement was published in Advanced Functional Materials under the title "Engineering a Hierarchical Pt/IrO2 Architecture with Tunable Hydrophilicity and High Conductivity for Ultralow-Ir-Loading PEM Water Electrolysis." The first author of the paper is Dr. Dong Shu, jointly trained by ShanghaiTech University and the Shanghai Advanced Research Institute, with Associate Researcher Wang Guoliang and Researcher Yang Hui serving as corresponding authors. The research received support from projects such as the National Key R&D Program, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Chinese Academy of Sciences Strategic Priority Research Program, and the Youth Innovation Promotion Association of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.