New Breakthrough in Joint R&D by CAS Team: Low Precious Metal Catalysts Boost Cost Reduction and Efficiency in PEM Hydrogen Production

Proton exchange membrane water electrolysis (PEMWE) has emerged as a vital direction for green hydrogen development due to its low energy consumption, high efficiency, high hydrogen purity, and rapid response to wide power fluctuations, making it inherently compatible with the intermittency of renewable energy. However, the technology, particularly its anode, heavily relies on the noble metal iridium (Ir) as a catalyst, with substantial usage, which has become one of the key bottlenecks hindering its large-scale application. Blindly reducing the noble metal loading can easily lead to a sharp decrease in active sites, collapse of the thin catalyst layer structure, and disruption of electron conduction pathways. Therefore, achieving a significant reduction in the loading of Ir-based catalysts (≤0.5 mgIr cm⁻²) is a major challenge for scaling up PEM water electrolysis.

To address this challenge, a research team led by Researcher Yang Hui from the Shanghai Advanced Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, in collaboration with the Ningbo Zhongke Kechuang R&D team, has made significant progress. By uniformly introducing trace amounts of cerium (Ce) atoms into the Nb₂O₅ support material and surface-loading ultrafine IrOx nanoparticles (<2 nm), the team successfully constructed a supported Ir-based catalyst (IrOx@Ir/Ce-Nb₂O₅) with strong metal oxide–support interaction.

It is reported that doping the support material with Ce atoms not only enhances electron transfer capability between the support and active centers but also preserves the lattice integrity of the Ir/IrOx active material, effectively preventing rapid catalytic activity decay. Performance tests show that the catalyst exhibits an acidic oxygen evolution reaction overpotential of only 275 mV@10 mA cm⁻² and demonstrates excellent activity and stability under actual membrane electrode operating conditions. Long-term durability testing is currently underway at low loadings (0.3 mgIr cm⁻²), laying an important technical foundation for reducing costs, improving efficiency, and enabling large-scale application of PEM water electrolysis.