Nankai University Team Makes Breakthrough in Electrocatalytic Water Splitting for Hydrogen Production
TapTechNews August 3rd news, according to the three methods of hydrogen production, hydrogen energy is divided into grey hydrogen, blue hydrogen and green hydrogen. Among them, green hydrogen represented by renewable energy electrolytic water hydrogen production does not produce greenhouse gases in the production process and is widely regarded as one of the important paths to achieve the goal of carbon neutrality.
The research team led by Professor Luo Jingshan from the College of Electronic Information and Optical Engineering, Nankai University, in collaboration with the research team led by Professor Federico Calle-Vallejo from the University of the Basque Country, Spain, has made important progress in the research of electrocatalytic water splitting for hydrogen production.
The joint team constructed an alkaline condition high-activity hydrogen evolution catalyst by utilizing the metal support interaction, which can stably operate for more than 1000 hours at a large current density of 50,000 amperes per square meter, meeting the needs of the commercial application of anion exchange membrane electrolytic water hydrogen production technology. The relevant research results have been published in Nature Communications (TapTechNews attaches DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-50691-5).
Luo Jingshan introduced that most of the current electrolytic water processes use platinum-based materials as the hydrogen evolution reaction catalyst, which has excellent performance but high cost. Ruthenium, as a less expensive precious metal with high catalytic activity and good durability, is an ideal substitute for platinum and has good application prospects.
TapTechNews note: Electrolytic water is the process of decomposing water into hydrogen and oxygen through electric energy. Under the joint action of electric energy and efficient catalyst, water molecules are electrolyzed, and hydrogen and oxygen molecules are separated out. At present, two electrolytic water hydrogen production technologies, alkaline electrolytic water (ALK) and proton exchange membrane electrolytic water (PEM), account for a relatively high proportion. The former has lower cost but the produced hydrogen has low purity and low energy efficiency, while the anion exchange membrane (AEM) hydrogen production technology is considered as the third-generation electrolytic water hydrogen production technology integrating the advantages of ALK and PEM, with high efficiency, low cost, and rapid start-stop and other advantages.
Luo Jingshan mentioned, Most of the reported ruthenium-based hydrogen evolution catalysts under alkaline conditions are tested at low current densities. Being able to maintain the high performance of electrocatalysts at large current densities to meet the needs of large-scale commercial applications is the core issue that our team tackles.
The first author of the paper, Zhao Jia, a doctoral student in the College of Electronic Information and Optical Engineering, Nankai University, said, We used Ru NPs/TiN as the hydrogen evolution reaction catalyst to assemble the AEM electrolytic cell and achieved energy efficiencies of 70.1%, 64.3%, and 58.0% at current densities of 0.5 amperes per square centimeter, 1 ampere per square centimeter, and 2 amperes per square centimeter, respectively, and could stably operate for more than 1000 hours with almost no performance degradation.
At an industrial current density of 5 amperes per square centimeter, our research results can operate efficiently and stably in the AEM electrolytic cell, meeting the needs of large-scale commercial application of AEM hydrogen production. Luo Jingshan said, In the future, our team will continue to invest in the independent research and development of green hydrogen production technology and promote the transformation and landing of scientific and technological achievements as soon as possible to contribute to the construction of a zero-carbon, low-cost, safe and reliable green hydrogen energy supply system.