Parallel electrochemical treatment system and application for identifying acid-stable oxygen evolution...

Area of Science:

• Electrochemistry
• Materials Science
• Energy Technology

Background:

• Electrochemical stability and preactivation are crucial for many energy technologies.
• Long experiment durations hinder high-throughput screening of functional materials.
• Parallel electrochemical testing presents challenges with experimental artifacts.

Purpose of the Study:

• To discuss electrochemical engineering principles for mitigating artifacts in parallel electrochemical treatment systems.
• To demonstrate methods for high-throughput screening of materials for energy applications.
• To address challenges in developing stable and active catalysts for water electrolysis and photoelectrolysis.

Main Methods:

• Finite element modeling to analyze resistive losses in planar electrodes.
• Illustrative experiments to validate modeling results.
• Operation of a parallel-plate, membrane-separated electrochemical treatment system.

Main Results:

• Demonstration of artifact mitigation strategies in parallel electrochemical systems.
• Quantification of resistive loss effects in planar working electrodes.
• Successful application to screen mixed-metal oxides for oxygen evolution in acidic media.

Conclusions:

• Parallel electrochemical systems can be optimized to reduce experimental artifacts.
• Understanding and controlling resistive losses is key for accurate high-throughput screening.
• This approach facilitates the development of earth-abundant catalysts for crucial energy technologies like water splitting.