New nanosheet reduces required iridium amount in PEM electrolysers to only one-tenth of original content, and is ready to be commercialized
Here’s an article posted in Nikkei Asia that talks about Japan’s Hydrogen revolution.
According to the article,
- Japanese companies like Toshiba and Toray Industries are leading the way in developing affordable “green” hydrogen technology.
- Toshiba has made a breakthrough by reducing the iridium requirement in polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) electrolyzers by 90% through the development of iridium oxide nanosheet technology.
- This innovation is expected to significantly reduce the cost of electrolyzers, making green hydrogen more affordable and ready for commercialization in the mid-2020s.
Toshiba’s iridium oxide nanosheet catalyst works by using a multilayer structure to reduce the amount of iridium required while maintaining the efficiency of water electrolysis.
- Structure:
- Sputtering Technology:
- In sputtering, ions bombard a deposition material (target) in a vacuum, depositing the ejected particles on a substrate.
- Toshiba’s process uses iridium as the target and injects oxygen to form a thin film of iridium oxide on the substrate. This allows for precise control of thickness at the nanometer level, ensuring uniform iridium oxide layers with less iridium.
- Deposition and Efficiency:
- The multilayer catalyst maintains water electrolysis performance while reducing the required iridium to 1/10.
- By modifying the deposition distribution ratio for multiple metal targets, including iridium, and the oxygen input level, Toshiba has developed a large-scale production technology that can deposit the catalyst on an area of up to 5m2 at a time.
This innovative catalyst technology is expected to significantly reduce the reliance on iridium, a rare and expensive metal, and make green hydrogen production more cost-effective and sustainable.
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