Highly effective, standalone gas-
diffusion electrodes (GDEs) and the methods for their manufacture and test are disclosed, Nanocataiysis are directly bonded on a
gas diffusion layer, so that the integrity of the catalyst layer holds without
polymer electrolyte membrane, facilitating minimization of electronic, prottmtc, and
diffusion resistances in the catalyst layer. The devised embodiments provide examples showing a facile hanging-strip method for testing the standalone GDEs in a solution
electrochemical cell, which removes the mA-cm−2-scale
mass transport limited currents on rotating disk electrodes to allow studies of reaction
kinetics on
single electrode over sufficiently wide current ranges (up to A cm−2) without
mass transport limitation. Ultralow-Pi-content GDEs are fabricated as the
cathode for
hydrogen evolution in water eiectrolyzers and as the
anode for
hydrogen oxidation in
hydrogen fuel cells. High performance GDEs with low loadings of
platinum group metals are being developed for
oxygen evolution reaction at the
anode of water electrolyzers and for the
oxygen reduction reaction at the
cathode of
fuel cells.