New electrode materials for hydrogen production by water electrolysis

使用化石燃料来满足我们的能源需求对地球造成了负面影响。由于对能源的需求将继续增长，温室气体排放增加的危险也将增加。解决方案之一是使用替代/绿色/可再生能源(风能、太阳能、水)。然而，它们的间歇性存在一个问题，可以通过存储所产生的电能的EXE来绕过这个问题，以便在需要时使用。在这方面，氢气被认为是一种很有前途的储能介质/载体。加拿大政府已将氢气确定为“实现我们到2050年实现净零排放目标的一种工具，并将加拿大定位为清洁可再生燃料的全球工业领导者”。“绿色氢气”可以通过使用太阳能/风能/水力发电的电解水来生产：这是一种清洁的氢经济途径，不需要消耗化石燃料或排放二氧化碳。尤其令人感兴趣的是聚合物-电解质-膜式水电解器(PEMWE)，因为与成熟的碱性水电解器相比，这些电解器具有一系列优势。然而，目前的PEMWE电极需要非常高的昂贵的铂和铱的负载。这里提出的研究旨在解决PEMWE技术的这一缺点，并有助于使其得到更广泛的使用。概述了开发基于混合金属氮化物/氧化物/硼化物(MMX)的纳米结构电极材料的新策略，其铂和Ir负载量明显低于现有的PEMWE，长期目标是用完全非贵金属基电催化剂取代铂/Ir。通过理论考虑和半组合电化学，以及利用新的电极剪裁方法，一些铂/Ir-MMX将被识别和开发为纳米结构和铂/Ir单原子电极。这些研究还将有助于我们理解这些材料的基本表面物理化学性质、表面形貌和形貌、体结构和化学成分以及电子/介电性能对其相应电化学性质的影响。这反过来将使研究人员能够将各种应用的电极设计建立在纳米和电子层面的现象上，而不是基于经验方法。这项拟议的研究将培养2名博士、2名硕士和10名本科生。学生将获得电化学、表面和材料科学与工程领域的知识和高级实验技能。学生将接受培训，使用最先进的实验研究工具，以及重要的软技能，如偏见意识、沟通和项目管理。预计这项研究将产生对加拿大学术界和工业部门有贡献的知识产权和知识。

The use of fossil fuels to meet our energy demands has created negative implications on the planet. Since the need for energy will continue to grow, the danger of increased greenhouse gas emissions will also grow. One of the solutions is to use alternative/green/renewable energy sources (wind, sun, water). However, their intermittent nature possesses a problem, which can be circumvented by storing exes of produced electrical energy to be used when required. In this respect, hydrogen gas has been identified as a promising energy-storage medium/vector. The Canadian Government has identified hydrogen "as a tool to achieve our goal of net-zero emissions by 2050 and position Canada as a global, industrial leader of clean renewable fuels". "Green hydrogen" can be produced by electrolysis of water using solar/wind/hydro-produced electricity: this is a clean route to the hydrogen economy without the consumption of fossil fuels or the emission of carbon dioxide. Of particular interest have become polymer-electrolyte-membrane water electrolysers (PEMWEs) since these offer a range of advantages over the well-established alkaline water electrolysers. However, current PEMWE electrodes require very high loadings of expensive platinum and iridium. The research proposed here aims at addressing this drawback of the PEMWE technology, and at contributing to bringing it to a wider-scale use. It outlines new strategies for the development of nano-structured electrode materials based on mixed-metal-nitrides/oxides/borides (MMXs) with a significantly lower Pt and Ir loadings than those in current PEMWEs, with the long-term goal of replacing Pt/Ir with completely non-noble-metal-based electrocatalysts. By theoretical considerations and semi-combinatorial electrochemistry, and using new approaches in tailoring electrodes, a number of Pt/Ir-MMXs will be identified and developed as nanostructured, and as Pt/Ir-single-atom-based electrodes. The research will also contribute to our understanding on how fundamental surface physicochemical properties, surface topography and morphology, bulk structure and chemical composition, and electronic/dielectric properties of these materials influence their corresponding electrochemical properties. This will, in turn, enable researchers to base the design of electrodes for various applications on phenomena at the nano- and electronic-level, rather than on empirical methods. The proposed research will train 2 PhD, 2 MSc and 10 undergraduate students. The students will gain knowledge and advanced experimental skills in the areas of electrochemistry and surface and materials science and engineering. The students will be trained to use state-of-the-art experimental research tools, and in important soft skills, such as bias awareness, communication and project-management. It is expected that the research will produce IP and knowledge that will contribute to the Canadian academic and industrial sectors.