Korean researchers develop a new hydrogen catalyst that lasts 3,000 hours

Summary

Korean researchers have developed a regular platinum-nickel intermetallic catalyst that can sustain continuous hydrogen production for 3,000 hours with less than a 2% performance loss.

Why it matters

The catalyst has the potential to reduce maintenance costs and enhance the economic viability of green hydrogen by addressing the nickel dissolution issue in alkaline water electrolysis. The atomic arrangement strategy promises broader applications in fuel cells and other electrochemical systems.

Highlights

• The regular intermetallic structure reduces nickel loss during testing from about 54% to 9%.
• In a large-area three-cell AEMWE stack, less than 2% degradation was observed over 3,000 hours.
• Synthesis at low temperature followed by nitrogen heat treatment enables stable atomic arrangement.

Critical take

Impressive as it is, the four-month operational period still falls short of the multi-year lifespans required for commercial electrolyzers, and performance under real-world renewable energy fluctuations has yet to be validated.