Highly conductive composite anode catalysts featuring fused Ir nano-network towards proton exchange membrane electrocatalysis

A boride-assisted method has been presented to synthesize a fused Ir nano-network supported on TiO2 as highly conductive composite catalysts (Ir NN@TiO2) for the reaction of oxygen evolution in acid. The Ir NN@TiO2 can be utilized to construct an anode catalyst layer of a proton exchange membrane water electrolyzer (PEMWE) with a low iridium content of 0.3 mgIr cm-2. The low-iridium-loading PEMWE exhibits excellent performance, i.e., 2.9 A cm-2@1.9 V with Nafion 115 membrane, and operates stably at a current density of 1.0 A cm-2 for over 1000 h.