AMPERE: automated modular platform for expedited and reproducible electrochemical testing

Abstract

Rapid and reliable electrochemical screening is critical to accelerate the development of catalysts for sustainable energy generation and storage. This paper introduces an automated and modular platform for expedited and reproducible electrochemical testing (AMPERE), designed to enhance the efficiency and reliability of multivariate optimization. The platform integrates a liquid-handling robot with custom-made modular array reactors, offering sample preparation and electrochemical testing in the same platform. Additionally, we use offline inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES) to measure metal concentrations in the electrolyte after the reaction, which serves as a proxy for assessing the electrochemical stability. We use the platform to conduct 168 experiments continuously in less than 40 hours to examine the influence of catalyst ink formulation on the performance of Ir, Ru, IrO₂, and RuO₂ for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in acid. We specifically investigate the role of solvent type and concentration, catalyst concentration, and binder content on the performance. We find that Ru/RuO₂ catalysts show improvements in activity that are not directly linked to improvements in the electrochemical surface area or inversely correlated to Ru dissolution. This suggests a complex interplay between the catalytic performance of the drop-casted catalyst film and ink formulation. AMPERE simplifies catalyst preparation and testing at large scale, making it faster, more reliable, and accessible for widespread use.