@article{35727, author = {Jason K Lee and Tobias Schuler and Guido Bender and Mayank Sabharwal and Xiong Peng and Adam Z Weber and Nemanja Danilovic}, title = {Interfacial engineering via laser ablation for high-performing PEM water electrolysis}, abstract = {

A rationalized interfacial design strategy was applied to tailor the porous transport layer (PTL)-catalyst layer (CL) contact and the PTL bulk-phase architecture. Particularly, at the PTL-CL interface, our results reveal that laser ablated sintered titanium power-based PTLs improve\ electrolyzer\ performance at both the H2NEW Consortium baseline catalyst loading of 0.4 mgIr{\textperiodcentered}cm-2\ as well as at the ultra-low catalyst loading of 0.055 mgIr{\textperiodcentered}cm-2. Under ultra-low catalyst loadings, the laser ablated PTL demonstrates maximum reduction of 230\ mV compared to the commercial PTL at 4 A{\textperiodcentered}cm-2, and reduces by 68\ mV at 3.2 A{\textperiodcentered}cm-2\ under H2NEW baseline loading. Laser ablation alters the titanium phase at the interface, so it forms more uniform structure like a microporous layer or a backing layer, leading to an increase in the surface area in contact with the\ catalyst layer\ while preventing the membrane from deforming into the PTL. Moreover, we reveal that bulk-phase architecture modification of the PTL by ablating patterned pores at the flow field-PTL interface improves mass transport without sacrificing contact at the CL-PTL interface. Overall, laser ablation of the PTL is an effective method to customize interfacial design to enhance\ proton exchange membrane\ electrolyzer performance.

}, year = {2023}, booktitle = {Applied Energy}, journal = {Applied Energy}, series = {Applied Energy}, volume = {336}, pages = {120853}, month = {02/2023}, issn = {03062619}, url = {https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0306261923002179}, doi = {10.1016/j.apenergy.2023.120853}, language = {eng}, }