Chung-Ang University claims the new catalyst, composed of hydroxide-sulphide heterostructure, is cheaper and more efficient than traditional methods, with hopes it could improve the scalability of hydrogen production.

Concerns surrounding the cost to meet large-scale of green hydrogen production have been highlighted as a significant challenge in transitioning to the clean fuel, seeing countries such as the US attempting to reduce the cost.

Read more:  $2.6m Hydrogen Shot Incubator Prize launched by DOE

The university has said the catalyst was able to deliver high current density of 1000 mA cm-2 at low voltages, as well as a 300 mA cm-2 and 100 hours of durability in electrolyser tests.

Typically, in electrocatalytic water splitting, rare and expensive noble metal catalysts, such as platinum are required to maintain efficiency, thus limiting large-scale applications.

During the process, two reactions take place. Hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER), where in most circumstances, two different catalysts are needed for each reaction.

The Chung-Ang University novel heterostructure catalyst, made up of hollow cobalt sulphide and nickel-iron layered double hydroxide nanosheets, can simultaneously boost both reactions.

Seung-Keun Park, Assistant Professor at Chung-Ang University, said, “The enhanced electrocatalytic properties of our catalyst is likely due to its unique hierarchical heterostructure and the synergy between its components.

“We believe that our work will take us one step closer towards realising a zero-emission society.”

 

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