Credit: Mercedes Martinez, LANL
A breakthrough into splitting water into its parts could help make renewable energy pay off, even when the sun isn’t shining and the wind isn’t blowing.
Using solar and wind power when it is available for water splitting, a process that uses electricity to split H2O into hydrogen and oxygen, offers a way to store energy in the form of hydrogen fuel.
Currently the most popular system used for water splitting, or water electrolysis, relies on precious metals as catalysts, but a collaborative research team, including scientists from Los Alamos National Laboratory and Washington State University, has developed a system that uses less expensive and more abundant materials. They describe the advance in a paper published in Nature Energy on March 9.
“The current water electrolysis system uses a very expensive catalyst. In our system, we use a nickel-iron based catalyst, which is much cheaper, but the performance is comparable,” said Yu Seung Kim, a research scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory and corresponding author on the paper.
Most water splitting today is conducted using a piece of equipment called a proton exchange membrane water electrolyzer, which generates hydrogen at a high production rate. It’s expensive, and works under very acidic conditions, requiring precious metal catalysts such as platinum and iridium as well as corrosion-resistant metal plates made of titanium.
The research team worked to solve this problem by splitting water under alkaline, or basic, conditions with an anion exchange membrane electrolyzer. This type of electolyzer does not need a catalyst based on precious metals. In fact, a team led by Yuehe Lin, professor at WSU’s School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, created a catalyst based on nickel and iron, elements that are less expensive and more abundant in the environment.
Lin’s team shared their development with Kim at Los Alamos, whose team in turn developed the electrode binder to use with the catalyst. The electrode binder is a hydroxide conducting polymer that binds catalysts and provides a high pH environment for fast electrochemical reactions.
The combination of the Los Alamos-developed electrode binder and WSU’s catalyst boosted the hydrogen production rate to nearly ten times the rate of previous anion exchange membrane electrolyzers, making it comparable with the more expensive proton exchange membrane electrolyzer.
About 10 million metric tons of hydrogen are currently produced in the United States every year, mostly by using natural gas in a process called natural gas reforming, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. Hydrogen produced from a water splitting process that is powered by electricity from renewable energy holds many economic and environmental benefits, Lin said.
“Water splitting is a clean technology, but you need electricity to do it,” said Lin, who is also a corresponding author on the paper. “Now we have a lot of renewable energy, wind and solar power, but it is intermittent. For example, at night, we can’t use solar, but if during the day, we can use extra energy to convert it into something else, like hydrogen, that’s very promising.”
The global hydrogen generation market is expected reach $199.1 billion by 2023. Potential markets for hydrogen energy include everything from mass energy conversion and power grid management to fuel cells for cars. Lin estimates that there are approximately 600 wind farms in the United States ready for direct connections to water electrolysis systems.
The Latest Updates from Bing News & Google News
Go deeper with Bing News on:
Water splitting
- Burst water main disrupts supplies to 100k homes
The water supply to large part of Glasgow and East Dunbartonshire has been disrupted by a burst water mains. Children were evacuated from a nursery in Milngavie after the burst pipe caused a road to ...
- Burst main floods roads and leaves 100,000 homes in Scotland without water
Scotland have been left without water due to a burst pipe in Milngavie, Glasgow. Shortly before 5pm, Scottish Water confirmed they were trying to resolve the issu ...
- Orange County communities will use millions in federal money for water upgrades
Newburgh and Cornwall and the city of Middletown to fund major water infrastructure projects. Three Orange County communities will receive a total of $9 million in federal funding for water ...
- What Factors Driving the Flavored Water Market 2023 Growth Insights 2028? Major Key Company Analysis, Development Plans, and Size Forecast
The “Flavored Water Market” Research Report 2023: incorporates a thorough qualitative and quantitative analysis along ...
- What Causes Split Lips?
A split lip can also occur after an injury ... Vitamin B includes thiamine, niacin, biotin, folic acid, and riboflavin. These are water-soluble vitamins that play a role in metabolism, provide ...
Go deeper with Google Headlines on:
Water splitting
[google_news title=”” keyword=”water splitting” num_posts=”5″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]
Go deeper with Bing News on:
Hydrogen production
- FORTESCUE FUTURE INDUSTRIES (FFI) AND NIKOLA TO COLLABORATE AND INVEST IN THE CO-DEVELOPMENT OF LARGE-SCALE U.S. GREEN HYDROGEN PRODUCTION PROJECTS
Nikola Corporation (Nasdaq: NKLA), a global leader in zero-emissions transportation and energy supply and infrastructure solutions, and Fortescue Future Industries (FFI) have executed a memorandum of ...
- B20 Meet: Gujarat Aims To Become World Centre For Green Hydrogen In Next 12 Years With 8 MTPA Production Capacity
Gujarat aims to especially focus on farsighted policies and green production processes for the new generation in alignment with the global agenda, Rajput said ...
- Zero-emission hydrogen production facility planned for California
Element Resources to build a The Lancaster Clean Energy Center, a renewable hydrogen production expected to produce 20,000 tons of renewable hydrogen annually and expand Lancaster's hydrogen ...
- Imported hydrogen can beat EU production costs by 2030 - study
Imports of renewable hydrogen into the European Union by 2030 will be competitively priced compared with domestically produced clean hydrogen, a future energy source to replace fossil fuels, a study ...
- Raven SR and H3 Dynamics to Collaborate on Waste-to-Hydrogen Supply for Aviation Operations
H3 Dynamics will provide hydrogen power systems to replace conventional fuel and other energy sources at airports while Raven SR will provide renewable hydrogen production facilities to supply ...
Go deeper with Google Headlines on:
Hydrogen production
[google_news title=”” keyword=”hydrogen production” num_posts=”5″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]