Researchers report new, more efficient catalyst for water splitting

Photo credit: George Hodan/public domain

"Hydrogen is the cleanest primary energy source we have on earth," said Paul C. W. Chu, TLL Temple Chair of Science and founding director and chief scientist of the Texas Center for Superconductivity at UH. "Water could be the most abundant source of hydrogen if one could separate the hydrogen from its strong bond with oxygen in the water by using a catalyst."

Chu and colleagues including physicists Zhifeng Ren and Shuo Chen, both of whom also are principal investigators with the Texas Center for Superconductivity at UH, report their discovery — an efficient catalyst produced without the expensive precious metals most commonly used — this week in the Proceedings of the Natural Academy of Sciences. Other researchers involved in the project include postdoctoral researchers Haiqing Zhou and Fang Yu, and graduate students Jingying Sun and Ran He.

The catalyst, composed of ferrous metaphosphate grown on a conductive nickel foam platform, is far more efficient than previous catalysts, as well as less expensive to produce. "Cost-wise, it is much lower […]

Full article: Researchers report new, more efficient catalyst for water splitting

About phosphate and water:

Clock Ticking on Florida’s Mountains of Hazardous Phosphate Waste

Chemicals that keep drinking water flowing may also cause fouling

26,000 tons of radioactive waste under Lake Powell