Hydrogen is a promising future fuel, especially if produced from water. However, the noble metal catalysts required to make this work are rare, expensive, and have insufficient reserves. Also, they don’t perform as well as needed in harsh and acidic conditions that increase energy efficiency.
Now, researchers from the University of Tsukuba and collaborating partners have developed catalysts that can overcome the limitations of noble metals. Professor Yoshikazu Ito and co-workers use numerous non-noble metals all at once.
The team used high-entropy alloys, which are mixtures consisting of many elements. While some of these alloys can be used to generate large quantities of hydrogen, others undergo a process called oxidation which gives the alloys some corrosion resistance ability.
Nevertheless, as Professor Ito points out, “it’s apparent that identifying which metals to use in…
Researchers develop a non-noble catalyst for hydrogen production
