Nanostructured coatings based on titanium for electrodes of electrochemical devices with proton exchange membrane

Abstract

During the operation of electrochemical devices with a proton-exchange membrane under the action of oxygen, the electrode is gradually destroyed and degraded from the anode side. It is possible to increase the performance and service life of electrodes of electrochemical devices by applying Ti-based protective coatings to the surface of current collectors. In this work, nanostructured films of the compositions Ti, TiO𝑥, TiN𝑦, TiO𝑥N𝑦 were obtained by magnetron sputtering of a titanium target under various conditions. The structure and composition of the samples were studied by scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction phase analysis. The effect of various modes and conditions of magnetron sputtering on the composition and structure of titanium coatings has been established. The service life of an electrode coated with the TiN𝑦 composition in the electrolyzer mode is 2 times higher than the service life of an anode without a coating under similar conditions with comparable efficiency