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Project objective

Energy storage using hydrogen production: this technology is gaining in importance as the use of renewable energy sources grows. The project seeks to develop and study new electrode materials to reduce the costs of polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) electrolysis.

Project innovation

Conventional PEM electrolysis uses electrodes with a noble-metal catalyst. The project’s objective is to use highly pure iridium catalysts, which will be applied to chlorine-free silicon particles with modified surfaces and processed into nanostructured electrodes.

Laser ablation will allow the decoration of the silicon carrier particles from colloidal iridium. The noble metals should thus achieve a markedly higher utilisation factor, therefore lowering costs. Furthermore, the electrodes will be processed into functioning cells and integrated into an electrolysis test system in order to determine the improvements in efficiency and durability under laboratory conditions.