hybrid catalyst tagged posts

The climate crisis requires ramping up usage of renewable energy sources like solar and wind, but with intermittent availability, scalable energy storage is a challenge. Hydrogen —especially carbon-free green hydrogen—has emerged as a promising clean energy carrier and storage option for renewable energy such as solar and wind. It adds no carbon emissions to the atmosphere, but currently is costly and complex to create.

One way to produce green hydrogen is electrochemical water splitting. This process involves running electricity through water in the presence of catalysts to yield hydrogen and oxygen.

Researchers at Georgia Institute of Technology and Geor...

Screenshot of video showing hybrid catalyst for water splitting (see video at: https://youtu.be/nkouqCFaqAk). Credit: Image courtesy of University of Houston

Catalyst uses inexpensive elements and could be scaled up for commercial use. Researchers from the University of Houston and the California Institute of Technology have reported an inexpensive hybrid catalyst capable of splitting water to produce hydrogen, suitable for large-scale commercialization.

Most systems to split water into its components – hydrogen and oxygen – require two catalysts, one to spur a reaction to separate the hydrogen and a second to produce oxygen. The new catalyst, made of iron and dinickel phosphides on commercially available nickel foam, performs both functions.

Researchers said it has the potential to dramat...