Abstract
In order to develop an anode without precious metal oxides for a polymer electrolyte water electrolysis, the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) on Zr compound film and Zr compound powder have been investigated in sulfuric acid. The Zr compounds film was prepared by the reactive sputtering under various partial pressure of oxygen and temperature of base material. The Zr compound powder was prepared from ZrC0.5N0.5 by the partial oxidation at 700 and 1000°C. The parameter of pseudo-current density which was related to the active area was defined as i*(= i•QA-1), where QA was the anodic electric charge calculated from cyclic voltammogram, and applied for the pseudo-OER specific activity. The Zr compound film prepared under 8.6 mPa of partial pressure of oxygen at the base temperature of 200°C during the sputtering had the largest i* of Zr compounds in this study. From chronoamperometry measurements, the decrease rate of i* on the Zr compound film of the best OER activity was smaller than that of IrO2 powder. In addition, the Zr compound film was higher not only in OER activity but also in stability than the Zr compound powder in this study.
