An international team of researchers led by the College of Natural Sciences’ Dipankar Saha recently detailed the discovery of a new, low-cost, energy-efficient catalyst that may eliminate key roadblocks in hydrogen production, a critical step in the advancement of affordable, green energy production.

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Long-promoted as a means to accelerate the decarbonization of sectors difficult to electrify, such as heavy industry, long-duration energy storage and transportation, the scale-up of hydrogen production has been slowed in part by conventional methods that struggle to precisely control metal clustering at high loadings, which limits catalyst efficiency and drives up material and energy costs. The new research could accelerate the deployment of more affordable water-splitting systems and advance large-scale, sustainable fuel generation.

“Our research describes a seconds-scale, one-pot synthesis that locks iron-nickel (Fe-Ni) metal atoms into optimally spaced ensembles within a carbon matrix, creating a low-cost, scalable, non-precious oxygen evolution catalyst that operates seamlessly from lab-scale electrochemistry to real membrane electrode assembly (MEA) devices,” explains Saha, a postdoctoral research associate in the Department of Polymer Science and Engineering. “This catalyst enables practical hydrogen production by functioning as the anode in alkaline water electrolyzers, where structure, speed, and metal-metal synergy are engineered together to deliver performance, durability, and scalability in a single platform.”

The outcomes of the research, published in December by the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), could lead to exciting advancements in clean energy production.

“This research delivers a fast, scalable method to make Fe-Ni metal ensembles that drive clean hydrogen, oxygen, and ammonia production, while providing scientists a platform to study atomic-scale synergy in multi-metal catalysts for sustainable energy and chemical applications,” argues Saha. “In short, we found a fast, cheap way to arrange iron and nickel so they work together like a team to turn water into clean energy fuel. This could help make cleaner energy for the future and reduce pollution.”

The research team includes Saha’s colleague James Watkins, professor of polymer science and engineering, Nick Wu, Zhu (Clark) Chen and Peng Bai from the Riccio College of Engineering’s Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, as well as researchers from the University of New South Wales in Australia, the Canadian Center for Electron Microscopy, and the National Synchrotron Research Center in Taiwan.

More information about the research can be found on the CNS website, and the complete research paper, “Alkaline electrocatalytic water oxidation by Fe–Ni nanostructures on porous turbostratic carbon with tailorable metal–metal active sites,” is available from the RSC.