Scientists develop much more efficient hydrogen extraction method

Scientists from various European universities state that they have developed a hydrogen production method in which the amount of energy required for electrolysis is almost fifty percent lower than with current methods.

The research team focused on a more efficient way to produce hydrogen by splitting water into oxygen and hydrogen through electrolysis. They found that the amount of hydrogen gas produced increases when electrodes coated with molybdenum ditelluride are used as a catalyst.

Incidentally, this only works if a specific pattern of high current pulses is applied. If those pulses are optimized by the acid-containing electrolyte, the amount of energy required can be reduced by almost fifty percent. The overvoltage required for a current density of 10mA/cm², at which the potential of a metal changes due to an electric current, decreases from 320mV to 178mV. According to the researchers, subtle changes in the electronic structure of the electrode material are therefore very important.

Since the transport of electrical charges determines the degree of amplification of the catalysis, the researchers believe that developments in machine learning can help optimize the sequence of the applied electrical pulses, in order to maximize the output. The scientists therefore see the development of an AI protocol as the next step in the research, so that human input can be replaced in the search for the most effective electronic structures used in catalysis processes.

The research is published in the scientific journal Nature Communications, under the title The rapid electrochemical activation of MoTe2 for the hydrogen evolution reaction. Scientists from the universities of Glasgow, Lisbon and Kiel, and from the Hungarian Academy of Sciences participated in the study. The research was funded by funding from the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and the Scottish Carnegie Trust.