Nanoporous PdIr alloy for high-efficiency and durable water splitting in acidic media

Abstract

High-efficiency and durable electrocatalysts in an acidic environment are critical for boosting the development of proton exchange membrane water electrolyzers. Herein, we report an alloy-surface recombination strategy to fabricate a bifunctional nanoporous Pd–Ir alloy catalyst for water splitting in acidic media. The optimized nanoporous Pd₅₀Ir₅₀ alloy exhibits high-efficiency and durable electrocatalytic activity towards OER and HER in 0.5 M H₂SO₄, presenting 83 and 5 mV lower overpotential than the state-of-the-art Ir/C and Pt/C for OER and HER, respectively. Significantly, the nanoporous Pd₅₀Ir₅₀, as both the cathode and anode catalyst, shows remarkable performance in the water splitting electrolyser, comparable to the commercial electrolyser with paired Pt/C and Ir/C catalysts.