A Perovskite Electrocatalyst for Efficient Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

A catalyst for better batteries

21 April 2017

Researchers have demonstrated an effective technique for storing the intermittent energy produced from renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power, paving the way for new storage technologies, according to a report published in Advanced Materials.

An international team of engineers and material scientists, which included researchers from Nanjing Tech University in China, investigated the suitability of perovskite — a class of compounds comprised of calcium, titanium and oxygen with useful electrical and physical properties — as catalysts for storing electricity in hydrogen.

By modifying the electronic structure and properties of a perovskite commonly used in electrolysis, they investigated its effectiveness as a catalyst in the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), which uses electricity to split water, and found that it exhibited significantly improved catalytic activity and improved HER performance.

By enhancing the electrochemical characteristics of a cheap and abundant perovskite, the researchers have developed a highly efficient method for generating hydrogen.

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References

1. Advanced Materials 28,6442-6448 (2016). doi: 10.1002/adma.201600005