Stability of nanostructured iridium oxide electrocatalysts during oxygen evolution reaction in acidic environment

Abstract The electrochemical stability of thermally prepared Ir oxide films is investigated using a scanning flow cell (SFC)–inductively coupled plasma mass-spectrometer (ICP-MS) setup under transient and stationary potential and/or current conditions. Time-resolved dissolution rates provide important insights into critical conditions for material breakdown and a fully quantitative in-situ assessment of the electrochemical stability during oxygen evolution reaction (OER) conditions. In particular, the results demonstrate that stability and OER activity of the IrO x catalysts strongly depend on the chemical and structural nature of Ir oxide species and their synthesis conditions.