2021 also saw the Californian company working on this mission as it hopes to support a sustainable green hydrogen economy, both in North America and worldwide.

Today (Jan 11), in an update, the firm confirmed that its program has already developed a non-precious metal-based catalyst with significant improvement of oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in acidic conditions for proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolysers.

Researchers have also improved the catalyst performance by modifying the structure and optimising loading conditions and, most recently, the application of a unique surface engineering technique which further improves the long-term stability of the catalyst.

In addition to the work on PEM electrolysers, the duo has also been developing hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) catalysts for alkaline electrolysers. The work is focused on developing platinum based HER catalysts that use significantly less platinum, as well as a totally new type of HER catalyst that does not use platinum at all.

This work will now continue throughout the rest of the year as NewHydrogen continues to achieve its end-goal in collaboration with the University of California, Los Angeles, which is supporting the hydrogen research.

Dr. David Lee, CEO of NewHydrogen, said, “Prior to scaling up the process for studies with a prototype electrolyser in late 2022, researchers will continue to explore additional improvements to both the OER and the HER catalysts to maximise the overall performance of an actual water electrolysis device.”