Nanopillars-mediated interfacial engineering on porous transport layer for proton-exchange-membrane water electrolysis

IF 9.2 2区工程技术 Q1 CHEMISTRY, PHYSICAL

International Journal of Hydrogen Energy Pub Date : 2026-07-22 Epub Date: 2026-06-27 DOI:10.1016/j.ijhydene.2026.156211

Shufeng Yang, Gaoqiang Yang, Bin Hou, Shengyang Zheng, Jianing You, Shuwan Luo, Yifang Song, Zhiqiang Xie

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Abstract

Optimized interfacial contact between the porous transport layer (PTL) and catalyst layer (CL) is essential for achieving high performance in proton exchange membrane water electrolyzers (PEMWEs). In this research, a chemical etching process was developed to engineer uniform nanopillars on PTL surfaces. We found that the nanopillars on different types of PTLs exhibited varying performance improvements. Nanopillars-Mott and nanopillars-Ti felt reduced overpotentials by 56 mV and 45 mV versus pristine PTLs at 4 A/cm², respectively. The further Voltage breakdown analysis reveals that nanopillars in Mott (lower porosity, extended contact) mainly decrease ohmic overpotential and enhance mass transport, while in Ti felt (larger porosity, limited contact), they reduce both kinetic and ohmic overpotentials. Accelerated stress tests (10k cycles) and post SEM results confirm excellent structural and electrochemical stability. Overall, chemical etching is a feasible method to optimize interface between PTL and CL for high-performance PEMWEs.

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质子交换膜电解多孔传输层的纳米柱介面工程

优化多孔传输层（PTL）和催化剂层（CL）之间的界面接触是实现质子交换膜水电解槽（PEMWEs）高性能的必要条件。在这项研究中，开发了一种化学蚀刻工艺来在PTL表面上制造均匀的纳米柱。我们发现不同类型ptl上的纳米柱表现出不同的性能改善。纳米柱- mott和纳米柱- ti相对于原始ptl在4 A/cm2时分别降低了56 mV和45 mV。进一步的电压击穿分析表明，纳米柱在Mott中（低孔隙率，扩大接触）主要降低欧姆过电位，增强质量传递，而在Ti毡中（大孔隙率，有限接触），它们同时降低了动力学和欧姆过电位。加速应力测试（10k循环）和后SEM结果证实了优异的结构和电化学稳定性。综上所述，化学蚀刻是优化PTL和CL之间界面的一种可行的方法。

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来源期刊

International Journal of Hydrogen Energy 工程技术-环境科学

CiteScore

13.50

自引率

25.00%

发文量

3502

审稿时长

60 days

期刊介绍： The objective of the International Journal of Hydrogen Energy is to facilitate the exchange of new ideas, technological advancements, and research findings in the field of Hydrogen Energy among scientists and engineers worldwide. This journal showcases original research, both analytical and experimental, covering various aspects of Hydrogen Energy. These include production, storage, transmission, utilization, enabling technologies, environmental impact, economic considerations, and global perspectives on hydrogen and its carriers such as NH3, CH4, alcohols, etc. The utilization aspect encompasses various methods such as thermochemical (combustion), photochemical, electrochemical (fuel cells), and nuclear conversion of hydrogen, hydrogen isotopes, and hydrogen carriers into thermal, mechanical, and electrical energies. The applications of these energies can be found in transportation (including aerospace), industrial, commercial, and residential sectors.