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Two efficient and inexpensive novel electrocatalysts for hydrogen production offering sustainable green solutions for the energy crisis have been developed by City University of Hong Kong (CityU).
Hydrogen is a clean and sustainable alternative to fossil fuels while the production of low- cost, high-performance hydrogen evolution catalysts is a core problem in the energy field.
A research team co-led by CityU materials scientists has recently developed an innovative, ultra-stable and highly efficient hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) electrocatalyst.
Electrochemical HER is a widely used hydrogen-generation method. Commercial HER electrocatalysts are made from expensive precious metals. A promising type of HER electrocatalyst intensively studied by scientists is single-atom catalysts for their potential in catalytic HER applications because of their high activity, maximised atomic efficiency, and minimised catalyst usage. However, the fabrication of single-atom catalysts is generally complicated, and requires a lot of energy and time.
The new electrocatalyst is based on two-dimensional mineral gel nanosheets and does not contain any precious metals. It can be produced on a large scale and help achieve a lower hydrogen price in the future.
“Compared with other common single-atom substrate precursors, such as porous frameworks and carbon, we found that mineral hydrogels have great advantages for the mass production of electrocatalysts owing to the easy availability of the raw materials, a simple, environmentally friendly synthetic procedure, and mild reaction conditions,” said Professor Lu Jian, Chair Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering (MNE) and the Department of Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) at CityU, who led the research.
The experiments found that the new catalyst exhibits excellent electrocatalytic activity, long- term durability and ultra-stability.
The findings were published in…
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