The new catalyst produces abundant and inexpensive hydrogen



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QUT Chemistry researchers have discovered cheaper and more efficient materials for the production of hydrogen for renewable energy storage that could replace the current water separation catalysts.

Professor Anthony O 'Mullane said that the chemical storage potential of renewable energy in the form of hydrogen was being studied around the world.

"The Australian government is interested in developing a hydrogen export sector to export our abundant renewable energy resources," said Professor O. Mullane of the faculty of science and engineering of QUT.

"In principle, hydrogen is a way to store clean energy on a scale necessary for the deployment of large solar and wind parks." Exporting green energy

"However, current methods using carbon energy to produce hydrogen emit carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that mitigates the benefits badociated with the use of carbon dioxide. use of renewable energies from the sun and the wind.

"The split fueled by electricity derived from renewable energy technology has been identified as one of the most sustainable methods of producing high-purity hydrogen."

Professor O & # 39; Mullane said that new composite material him and Ph.D. Student Ummul Sultana had developed a system for splitting electrochemical water into hydrogen and oxygen using little elements expensive and readily available as catalysts.


Credit: University of Technology of Queensland

"Traditionally, water cleavage catalysts involved precious metals such as iridium oxide, ruthenium oxide and platinum", he said. declared.

"What we have discovered is that we can use two cheaper and abundant alternatives to the earth – cobalt and nickel oxide with only a fraction of gold nanoparticles – to create a bi-functional stable catalyst to split water and produce hydrogen without emissions.

"From an industrial point of view, it is very sensible to use a single catalyst instead of two different catalysts to produce hydrogen from water. "

Professor O & # 39; Mullane stated that stored hydrogen could then be used in fuel cells

"Fuel cells are a well-developed technology already deployed in many makes of vehicles. They use hydrogen and oxygen as fuel for

"With a large amount of" cheap "hydrogen, we can reintroduce electricity produced from fuel cells into the grid. case of peak demand or to power our transportation system, and the only thing issued is water. "

"Doping of gold in a multilayer system of Co-Ni hydroxide via a galvanic replacement of the electrochemical badembly" was published in Advanced Functional Materials .


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More information:
Ummul K. Sultana et al. Splitting of water: doping of gold in a multilayer system of Co-Ni hydroxide via a galvanic replacement for the global electrochemical fractionation of water (43/2018 advanced functional material) , Advanced Functional Materials (2018). DOI: 10.1002 / adfm.201870706

Journal Reference:
Advanced functional materials

Source:
Queensland University of Technology

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