Science, Space and Technology News 2024
Hydrogen is a key player in the effort to decarbonize our society, but most of its production currently relies on fossil fuel-derived processes like methane reforming, which emit significant carbon dioxide. The development of green hydrogen via water electrolysis, particularly through advanced technologies like proton-exchange-membrane , is hindered by the need for rare catalysts like iridium.
Water electrolysis offers a path to generate green hydrogen which can be powered by renewables and clean electricity. This process needs cathode and anode catalysts to accelerate the otherwise inefficient reactions of water splitting and recombination into hydrogen and oxygen, respectively. From its early discovery in the late 18century, the water electrolysis has matured into different technologies.
In search of possible solutions, a team of scientists has recently taken an important step to find alternatives to iridium catalysts. This multidisciplinary team has managed to develop a novel way to confer activity and stability to an iridium-free catalyst by harnessing so far unexplored properties of water. The new catalyst achieves, for the first time, stability in PEM water electrolysis at industrial conditions without the use of iridium.
From these insights, they started working closely with collaborators and experts in catalyst modeling. “The modeling of activated materials is challenging as large structural rearrangements take place. In this case, the delamination employed in the activation treatment increases the number of active sites and changes the reaction mechanism rendering the material more active. Understanding these materials requires a detailed mapping between experimental observations and simulations,” says Prof.
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