South Korea develops low-cost corrosion-resistant catalyst to reduce the cost of hydrogen production by electrolysis of water

The key to promoting the development of the hydrogen economy represented by hydrogen fuel vehicles is to produce hydrogen that can generate electricity at low cost. There are many ways to produce hydrogen, such as capturing byproduct hydrogen, reorganizing fossil fuels to obtain hydrogen, and electrolyzing water to produce hydrogen. Among them, the method of producing hydrogen by electrolyzing water is an environmentally friendly method, but the use of catalysts is the most important factor in determining its efficiency and price competitiveness. Because the water electrolysis device requires the use of platinum (Pt) catalysts to accelerate the hydrogen production reaction and improve durability. However, although the catalyst has good performance, its cost is very high and is not as competitive as other hydrogen production methods in terms of price.

(Picture source: Korean Institute of Science and Technology)

Water electrolysis devices vary depending on how the electrolyte dissolves in water. For example, devices using proton exchange membranes (PEMs) can achieve high rates of hydrogen production even with catalysts made of transition metals instead of expensive platinum-based catalysts. As a result, much research has been focused on commercializing this technology. However, while such research has focused on achieving high reactivity, research on improving the durability of such transition metals, which are prone to corrosion in electrochemical environments, has been neglected.

According to foreign media reports, a research team of the Korea Science and Technology Research Institute (KIST) developed a catalyst, made of long -term durability metal, which can improve hydrogen -making efficiency. It also overcome the durability of non -platinum catalysts without using platinum.

The research team used a spray pyrolysis process to infuse a small amount of titanium (Ti) into low-cost transition metal molybdenum phosphide (MoP). Molybdenum is often used as a catalyst in energy conversion and energy storage devices because it is cheap and easy to handle, but its weakness is that it is easily oxidized and then corroded.

The researchers found that during the catalyst synthesis process, the electronic structure of each material was completely reconstructed, ultimately achieving the same oxygen evolution reaction (HER) activity as platinum catalysts. The change in electronic structure solved the problem of high corrosion, so the durability of the catalyst was 26 times higher than that of existing transition metal-based catalysts, which can accelerate the commercialization of non-platinum catalysts.