Breakthrough in cheap hydrogen fuel production

US scientists have successfully built a device capable of splitting water into oxygen and hydrogen continuously for 200 hours with just a cheap catalyst.

The US successfully built a hydrogen-generating device from water

Since 2014, scientists at Stanford University, USA have researched and developed an electrical device that separates water into hydrogen and oxygen with the most advanced technologies.

Water electrolysis equipment of Stanford University scientists.(Photo: Futurity)

The study, published in the June 23 issue of the journal Nature Communications. This is seen as a breakthrough in cheap hydrogen fuel production technology.

According to the traditional manufacturing process, a water electrolytic device consists of two electrodes embedded in the electrolyte solution. The current passing through two electrodes creates an electrolytic reaction.Hydrogen will escape on an electrode and oxygen escapes on the remaining electrode. Each electrode is made of two different metals, usually platinum and iridium, two rare and expensive metals.

To obtain hydrogen and oxygen in the electrolytic device, two different pH electrolytes are required to maintain the stability and operation of the device. Therefore, there must be a diaphragm placed in the electrolysis tank to divide the two electrolytes. The cost of the membrane is very expensive, making the cost increase.

However, the electrolytic device of Stanford University scientists used iron-nickel oxide as an electrolyte catalyst on both electrodes. This is a very easy-to-produce compound, much cheaper than platinum and iridium.

In terms of stability, iron-nickel oxide has higher stability than the precious metals used as electrodes before.This catalyst only needs a 1.5V power source to operate continuously for more than a week.

This device is used for a single solution, with a single pH. Therefore it will no longer need a diaphragm divider.

"The separation efficiency reached 82% in room temperature conditions, an unprecedented result, " said Haotian Wang, the study author.

"We believe that electrochemical adjustment techniques will continue to be used to find new catalysts in the production of other fuels, " said Yi Cui, Stanford University's material expert on prospects. of this technology. He hopes that in the future, fuel production will be easier and much lower cost. This invention is part of Stanford's Global Energy and Climate Project (GCEP) .