Low-cost high-performance catalysts for green hydrogen production from water and seawater electrolysis

Project summary

Conducted in collaboration with Amoy Island Hydrogen  

The goal of this project is to develop a range of low-cost high-performance catalysts and electrodes for large scale green hydrogen production from water and seawater electrolysis, powered by renewable energy. Particularly we will develop alternative transitional metal-based catalysts for water splitting that includes both hydrogen evolution reaction and oxygen evolution reaction, with high activity and long stability under practical operation conditions. 

To enable efficient water and seawater electrolysis as a main route to make green hydrogen affordable at scale for our sustainable net-zero future, both the capital cost of the electrolyser and the running cost of the electrolysis need to be reduced significantly.  

This project will research novel catalytic materials and interface engineering to reduce the noble metal loading whilst maintaining and even enhancing long-term stability; and the reduction of running costs will be achieved through more efficient catalyst and electrode structure, to improve kinetic reaction, transport charge and mass transport, and thus to minimize the overpotential loss, i.e., to reduce the electricity use by minimizing waste heat from the electrolyser.