Researchers at the RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science in Japan have developed a new method that reduces the amount of iridium needed to produce hydrogen from water by 95%. This breakthrough could revolutionize our ability to produce ecologically friendly hydrogen and help usher in a carbon-neutral hydrogen economy. With hydrogen being a renewable energy source and the potential to extract it from water, this new method could have significant implications for the global energy landscape.
The current global energy production is almost 18 terawatts, and for alternative green energy methods to replace fossil fuels, they must be able to reach the same energy production rates. The extraction of hydrogen from water is a green way to produce energy, but it requires a catalyst, with iridium being the most effective but also extremely rare. Scaling up hydrogen production to the global terawatt scale is estimated to require 40 years’ worth of iridium, highlighting the urgency for a more sustainable solution.
The Biofunctional Catalyst Research Team at RIKEN CSRS is working to find ways to produce hydrogen at high rates using common earth metals to address the iridium bottleneck. While they have had success in stabilizing hydrogen production using manganese oxide as a catalyst, achieving industrial-level production with common metals is still years away. The team is hopeful that a gradual transition to completely sustainable green hydrogen production is possible with further research and development.
By combining manganese with iridium in their latest study, the researchers were able to sustain hydrogen production at the same rate as using iridium alone, but with 95% less iridium. The interaction between manganese oxide and iridium in their catalyst was key to the success, allowing for continuous hydrogen production at 82% efficiency for over 3000 hours. This unexpected interaction resulted in highly active iridium in the +6 oxidation state, showcasing the potential of this new catalyst for immediate use in real-world applications.
The team is collaborating with industry partners to further improve the initial iridium-manganese catalyst and reduce the amount of iridium needed even more. They plan to continue investigating the chemical interaction between iridium and manganese oxide while deploying and testing the new catalyst on an industrial scale in the near future. This research could have significant implications for the future of sustainable hydrogen production and the transition to a carbon-neutral energy economy.
Overall, the development of a more efficient catalyst for producing hydrogen from water using common metals has the potential to revolutionize our energy production methods and pave the way for a more sustainable future. By reducing the reliance on rare metals like iridium, this breakthrough opens up new possibilities for scaling up green hydrogen production and moving towards a carbon-neutral energy economy on a global scale. Further research and collaboration with industry partners are essential to continue improving and deploying this new catalyst for practical use in the near future.