Cr- and Ti-Based Spinels as Materials for Anodic Catalyst Support in PEM Electrolysis Cells: Assessing Corrosion Stability and Support Role in Catalyst Activity of Corrosion Stable Ceramics

This work aims to determine the stability of Cr- and Ti- based spinels as catalyst supports for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) catalyst in PEM electrolyzers (PEMECs). Different compositions of MCr2O4 (M=Ni, NiFe, Zn, Mg) and MTi2O4 (Li, Mg, Mn) have been synthesized by solid state synthesis. Pure and doped Cr-based spinels exhibit low conductivities at the operating temperatures of PEMECs (1.5 V vs SHE. LiTi2O4 is completely oxidized upon cycling up to 2.0 V vs SHE. Mixtures of IrO2/oxide support deposited on glassy carbon were tested toward OER, which showed a 10% higher absolute current at 2.0 V vs SHE in the case of IrO2/Cu-MnCr2O4 compared with pure IrO2.