Development of hydrogen production from cobalt-tungsten alloy

According to foreign media reports: The use of electrolyzed water to produce hydrogen is the easiest way to produce clean renewable energy. Recently, a team led by Prof. José Ramón Galán-Mascarós, composed of URV and the ICIQ of Spain, designed a new catalyst that can reduce electrolysis. The cost of hydrogen production. This new catalyst can effectively reduce the amount of electricity required to break chemical bonds, speed up the reaction, and reduce energy waste.

The research results are published in the journal Natural Science.

ICIQ and URV chemists have discovered a compound made of cobalt and tungsten, known as a polyoxometalate, that catalyzes water decomposition better than hydrazine. The first author, ICIQ postdoctoral researcher Marta Blasco-Ahicart explained that polyoxometallates are nano-molecular oxides that combine the best of two properties of electrolyzed water catalysts: the activity of the oxides and the versatility of the molecules. Polyoxometalates are cheaper than rhodium and allow working in acidic media. In the past, efficient electrolyzed water catalysts often had the disadvantage of being consumed by acids.

Co-author of the study, Dr. Joaquín Soriano, a postdoctoral researcher at Trinity College in Dublin, explained that the new type of catalyst works particularly well when working at low pressure. This may be a disadvantage, but it may also be an advantage. It can save electricity and will soon be obtained from Renewable energy such as Solar Panels divide the water needed for energy.

In addition, the researchers proposed additional findings in their paper that if the catalyst is attached to a hydrophobic material, the performance of the catalyst can be greatly improved. The addition of a hydrophobic material allows the electrolysis in the reactor to proceed faster and also increases the life of the catalyst. The new method not only improves the performance of the new cobalt tungsten polyoxometalate, but also introduces a large number of different catalytic systems.

Currently, researchers are studying the use of this newfound method to develop new hydrophobic scaffolds to further improve water separation efficiency, which is the basis for the evolution of artificial photosynthesis.