The United States developed low-cost catalysts for hydrogen production from water splitting

Even if there is no sunlight and no wind, it can decompose water to make renewable energy. You can use electricity to decompose water into hydrogen and oxygen to produce a method of storing energy in the form of hydrogen fuel. At present, the most popular methods for water decomposition or water electrolysis rely on precious metal catalysts. However, according to foreign media reports, scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory and Washington State University We formed a cooperative research team to develop a water decomposition system using cheaper and more abundant materials.

Image source: Los Alamos National Laboratory

Yu Seung Kim, a research scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory, said: "The current water electrolysis system uses very expensive catalysts, and our water electrolysis system uses nickel-iron-based catalysts, which are cheaper but have the same performance. Expensive catalysts are comparable. "

At present, most of the equipment is called proton exchange membrane water electrolyzers to decompose water. This kind of equipment has a high hydrogen production rate, but it is expensive. To work under acidic conditions, it needs to rely on platinum and iridium precious metal catalysts and titanium Made of corrosion-resistant metal plates.

The research team solved this problem by decomposing water under alkaline conditions or under the basic conditions using anion exchange membrane electrolyzers, which require no precious metal catalysts. In fact, a team led by Yuehe Lin, a professor at the Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering at Washington State University, created a catalyst based on nickel and iron, which are cheaper and have more reserves.

Lin ’s team shared the R & D results with Kim of Los Alamos National Laboratory, allowing Kim ’s team to develop an electrode binder that can be used with the catalyst. The electrode binder is a hydroxide conductive polymer that can be combined with a catalyst to provide a high pH environment for rapid electrochemical reactions.

The combination of the electrode binder developed by Los Alamos National Laboratory and the catalyst developed by Washington State University can increase the rate of hydrogen production to nearly 10 times the rate of hydrogen produced by the original anion electrolysis cell, and can be used with more expensive proton membrane The performance of the electrolytic cell is comparable.

According to data from the US Department of Energy, the United States currently produces about 10 million tons of hydrogen per year, most of which is produced through natural gas conversion processes. The researchers said that the use of renewable energy to generate electricity to decompose water to produce hydrogen can bring great economic and environmental benefits.

Researchers said: "Water splitting is a clean technology, but it also requires electricity to complete. Now, we have a lot of renewable energy, such as wind and solar energy (000591, shares it), but such energy is always intermittent, such as, At night, solar energy cannot be used, but if we can use additional solar energy during the day and convert it into other energy sources such as hydrogen, it has great prospects for development. "

It is estimated that by 2023, the market value of the global hydrogen production market will reach 199.1 billion US dollars. Potential markets for hydrogen energy include large-scale energy conversion, power grid management, and automotive fuel cells. Researchers estimate that about 600 wind farms in the United States can be directly connected to water electrolysis systems.