HEMCAT · Towards Non Iridium High Entropy Material ElectroCATalysts for Oxygen Evolution Reaction in Acidic Media
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2021-10-01 → 2023-09-30
- EU contribution
- €171,473
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
Towards Non Iridium High Entropy Material ElectroCATalysts for Oxygen Evolution Reaction in Acidic Media
The Towards Non Iridium High Entropy Material ElectroCATalysts for Oxygen Evolution Reaction in Acidic Media (HEMCAT) project aimed to address a critical challenge in the field of electrocatalysis—the reliance on expensive and scarce materials, particularly iridium, for water electrolysis. The overarching goal was to create new, iridium-free electrocatalysts that would facilitate the cost-effective and scalable electrolysis of water into hydrogen, a crucial step in the development of sustainable hydrogen technologies. The project focused on the development of high-entropy alloy catalysts due to their promising potential and achieved significant advancements, demonstrating notable activity and stability compared to existing electrocatalysts. The societal importance of this research lies in its contribution to advancing clean energy technologies. Hydrogen, as a clean and versatile energy carrier, holds immense potential for addressing climate change and meeting energy needs sustainably. By eliminating the reliance on iridium, a rare and expensive material, HEMCAT aimed to make hydrogen production more economically viable and environmentally friendly.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
Proton-exchange-membrane water electrolyzers are one of the most promising technologies for hydrogen production. Eliminating rare and expensive iridium in current electrocatalysts for the oxygen-evolution reaction (OER) in acidic media would greatly advance this technology for application on a large scale. The objective of the HEMCAT project is to produce new, cost-effective and high-performance (active and stable) electrocatalysts and to eliminate the iridium in OER electrocatalysts. The materials of focus are high-entropy materials (HEMs) that will be prepared from high-entropy alloys (HEAs) with the anodic oxidation process. Starting HEAs will be selected, prepared in bulk form and subjected to anodic oxidation processes to synthesise high-entropy oxides (HEOs) in the form of high-surface-area nanostructured films on HEA substrates. HEOs will be converted to HEMs with various treatments and will be fully characterized in terms of stability, structure and morphology. Finally, they will be tested for electrocatalytic properties in the OER reaction with state-of-the-art characterization techniques. These will include investigations of electronic and structural properties of synthesized cutting-edge electrocatalysts using synchrotron techniques (X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy (XAS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements) under ex-situ, in-situ and operando conditions. HEMCAT addresses key issues in energy storage and conversion that is clean, compact, and ultimately low-cost and at the same time facilitates intra-European knowledge transfer along with direct societal impacts. The new efficient, stable and inexpensive electrocatalysts for the OER in acidic media will bridge the gap between fundamental and applied electrocatalysis and facilitate the development of advanced electrocatalysts for electrocatalytic applications.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI TRIESTE · TriesteCoordinatorItaly
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union