Key Findings
A joint research team led by the Institute for Basic Science (IBS) has synthesized a next-generation catalyst for hydrogen production that reduces platinum usage by 63% relative to conventional commercial catalysts. When integrated into a proton exchange membrane water electrolysis device, the catalyst operated stably for 500 hours. Notably, the rate of voltage increase—a primary metric for performance degradation—was reduced to approximately one-quarter that of existing commercial catalysts.
Technical Details
The team employed a “reticular coordination” strategy to overcome the limitations of traditional single-atom catalysts, which typically require platinum content to remain below 1% to prevent atomic clustering. The synthesis process involved the following steps:
- Pre-design: Using metal-organic frameworks to fix individual platinum atoms into a cerium-oxygen lattice.
- Conversion: Applying heat treatment to convert the structure into ceria (cerium oxide).
- Result: A high-density catalyst with 14.9% platinum content dispersed at the atomic level.
The catalyst demonstrated high thermal stability, suppressing particle growth even after treatment at 300 to 500 degrees Celsius in a hydrogen environment, due to strong bonding with the ceria substrate.
Background and Context
Platinum is essential for hydrogen production and automotive exhaust purification due to its high performance, but its high cost limits economic viability. While single-atom catalysts aim to reduce costs, increasing the metal content usually leads to clustering, which degrades both stability and efficiency.
Significance and Outlook
This synthesis strategy is expected to be applicable to other precious metals, including rhodium and iridium. The research team plans to test the technology in high-temperature environments, specifically for three-way catalytic converters and dry methane reforming (converting methane and carbon dioxide into hydrogen and carbon monoxide). The findings were published on October 22 in Nature Synthesis.
Source: https://biz.heraldcorp.com/article/10922985
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