Expensive Water Electrolysis Catalysts, Extracting Hydrogen Using Only Half

Producing Hydrogen Using Only Half the Expensive Iridium Catalyst
Enhancing the Economics of 'Water Electrolysis' for Hydrogen Production

TEM images and energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) images of TiO₂-MoOx supported catalysts

[Asia Economy Reporter Junho Hwang] A technology has been developed to produce hydrogen, a green energy source, more efficiently. A water electrolysis electrode that reduces the amount of precious metal catalyst used by half has been developed to economically implement water electrolysis for hydrogen production. This is expected to accelerate the commercialization of water electrolysis.

The research team led by Professor Eun Ae Cho from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) announced on the 15th that their research results on a water electrolysis electrode with a 50% reduction in precious metal catalyst usage were recently published in the international journal on catalysis, 'Applied Catalysis B: Environmental.'

The team developed a water electrolysis electrode technology that halves the amount of iridium used. By developing titanium and molybdenum oxide supports, they increased the dispersion of iridium nanoparticles, achieving more than twice the performance and durability compared to conventional iridium catalysts.

A team representative explained, "Due to electron transfer between iridium and the oxide support, the electronic structure of iridium is optimized for the oxygen evolution reaction, significantly enhancing performance and durability."

Water electrolysis is a device that produces hydrogen by electrolyzing water. It is gaining attention as an eco-friendly production method because it produces hydrogen without emitting carbon dioxide. However, the production cost is high due to the use of iridium catalysts, whose reserves are only one-tenth that of platinum.

Professor Eun Ae Cho said, "Existing water electrolysis catalysts often fail to demonstrate their performance in actual systems, but the catalyst developed in this study showed the same performance as commercial catalysts even though the iridium usage was reduced by 50% when applied to an actual water electrolysis system, which is highly significant."

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