A sustainable route to green hydrogen production is becoming possible through the use of efficient electrocatalysts in research by Texas A&M University chemical engineering professor Dr. Abdoulaye Djire.
A sustainable route to green hydrogen production is becoming possible through the use of efficient electrocatalysts in research by Texas A&M University chemical engineering professor Dr. Abdoulaye Djire.
In CHEM Catalysis, Djire, chemical engineering graduate student David Kumar Yesudoss and materials science and engineering professor Dr. Miladin Radovic explain their research using MXenes—a new class of 2D-layered material—as a catalyst supporting Ru-atom for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) catalysis for green hydrogen production.
The goal is to produce green hydrogen using cheap, earth-abundant materials that use renewable electricity. Platinum—an expensive noble metal—is the current benchmark catalyst for this reaction. Using these inexpensive catalysts instead of platinum will significantly reduce the cost of the resulting hydrogen technology, Djire said.
„My work is centered around designing and evaluating materials to be used as catalysts for sustainable chemical production,“ Yesudoss said. „We have been able to reduce the cost of catalysts that are used in producing green hydrogen by half, which I think is really significant.“
More than 95% of hydrogen used in the chemical industry is produced through steam methane reforming—a fossil fuel method with negative environmental impacts, Djire said.
