Development of transition metal incorporatediridium oxide electrocatalyst and electrodes foroxygen evolutıon reaction (oer) in membranebased electrolyzers

This thesis focuses on the development of transition metal-doped IrO2 electrocatalystsand electrodes for the oxygen evolution reaction in membrane-based electrolyzers.The research aims to create more durable electrodes for PEM electrolyzers andto address the high costs and limited availability of IrO2 catalyst by incorporatingit with transition metals, thereby enhancing its catalytic activity and reducing theiridium loading. Anodization for TiO2 nanotube growth on titanium mesh and thesynthesis method of sol-gel for catalyst production were employed. The optimalanodization parameters were determined to be a 0.5 wt% NH4F solution, an appliedvoltage of 30 V, and an anodization duration of 6 hours. Furthermore, all of thetransition metal-incorporated catalyst inks, with Mn-doped as the highest performerwith an overpotential of 342 mV at 10 mAcm−2, outperformed pristine IrO2, whichhad an overpotential of 433 mV. The performance of the transition metal-dopedIrO2 and their interaction with nanotubular TiO2-coated titanium mesh were alsoassessed, highlighting the potential of these doped catalysts with reduced iridiumcontent for sustainable hydrogen production in electrolyzers.