On the road to the tantalizing promise of the hydrogen economy, a team of Korean scientists said it's cleared a major hurdle holding the technology back.
The Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology published its findings in the Energy & Environmental Science journal and summarized its breakthrough in a press release.
The area the researchers were specifically looking at was unlocking water electrolysis, wherein hydrogen and oxygen molecules are split using electricity. Proton exchange membrane water electrolysis, in particular, was the method KAIST looked to optimize, citing its capabilities for generating high-purity hydrogen.
The problem that PEMWE faces is that its catalysts require expensive coating materials, like platinum, to perform optimally. These high costs are holding back the tech from commercialization, per the scientists.
KAIST researchers took on the problem by investigating the exact reason a top catalyst, iridium oxide, was losing effectiveness without platinum coatings. The team chalked up the struggles to "electron transition resistance," which could be addressed by changing the size of the iridium oxide catalyst.
From there, the researchers experimented with numerous sizes for the catalyst. In the study, they found that when a catalyst with a size of 20 nanometers or larger was used, the need for precious metals greatly decreased. The team also had success tweaking the design structure to avoid push-pull conflicts between conductivity and catalyst activity.
The team touted the results as a major step in moving PEMWE closer to commercialization because of its greater efficiency and reduced use of precious metals.
"This research presents a new interface design strategy that can resolve the interfacial conductivity problem, which was a bottleneck in high-performance water electrolysis technology," declared professor Hee-Tak Kim in the release.
As scientists look to make the shift from dirty energy that is dangerously contributing to the overheating planet, hydrogen is looked at as an exciting possible energy source. Hydrogen yields water rather than carbon pollution when burned. It carries the potential to fuel aircraft, road transportation, and more with minimal pollution.
To commercialize hydrogen, though, scientists will need to continue to find eco-friendly and cost-effective methods to produce it. That challenge has drawn scientists around the globe to look at a range of potential solutions.
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Definitely 👍 A team at Anemel, a European research organization, looked at replacing expensive metals with more abundant and cheaper ones like nickel. Conversely, some scientists are exploring different methods altogether, like a Japanese group that proposed electrochemical water splitting in a study.
The KAIST team is banking on the improved PEMWE method as an eventual winner in developing hydrogen production on a large scale.
"By securing high performance even without expensive materials like platinum, it will be a stepping stone closer to realizing a hydrogen economy," said Kim of the team's study.
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