New breakthrough could make ‘green’ hydrogen cheaper and faster to produce
New breakthrough could make ‘green’ hydrogen cheaper and faster to produce
One researcher has found a way to control nickel growth, improving durability and efficiency in electrolysers.
A Ph.D. candidate, Yukihiro Takahashi, from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) has found a way to make hydrogen fuel cheaper, more efficient, and faster. If scaled, this new process could help make hydrogen more economically viable as an alternative to other fuels, like fossil fuels.
Hydrogen has been touted as a potential replacement for fossil fuels in things like ships and planes. When used in fuel cells or burned, hydrogen produces only water, eliminating CO₂ emissions at the point of use.
It could also prove to be very valuable for heavy industry, long-distance transport, shipping, aviation, and energy storage, where batteries struggle with weight, range, or downtime.
“Green hydrogen,” produced using renewable electricity, can also store excess wind and solar energy, stabilising power grids. While challenges remain around cost, efficiency, and infrastructure, hydrogen offers a flexible, scalable pathway to decarbonising parts of the economy, where fossil fuels currently dominate.
All well and good, but most hydrogen today isn’t “green,” as it’s made from fossil fuels and wastes a lot of energy. Bona fide “green hydrogen” is clean, but it’s too expensive to make at scale right now.
“Green hydrogen” on the horizon?
To this end, this new research could help make hydrogen production cheaper and more reliable.
Presently, most hydrogen fuel is made by splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen using electricity from renewables through a process called alkaline water electrolysis (AWE).
Inside these machines are metal plates (electrodes) that conduct electricity, survive harsh chemical conditions, and ultimately help the reaction happen faster. In order to function, these plates are usually coated with nickel.
Nickel is important because it resists corrosion in alkaline environments while acting as a catalyst, speeding up hydrogen production. However, there is a catch with this.
Nickel is typically applied using electroplating to make nickel ions stick onto a metal plate. But if the current isn’t evenly distributed, this can lead to uneven coating, which causes nickel wastage and thicker-than-needed layers.
This ultimately leads to poor performance and higher-than-expected costs. To try and improve this, Takahashi introduced complexing agents that help bind nickel ions to plates while also slowing down runaway nickel deposition.
Cheaper, cleaner, and faster to make
This helps the nickel bind more evenly and predictably, ultimately improving the final product’s quality and reducing costs. He achieved this via predictive mathematical modelling that simulates how nickel behaves under different conditions, such as pH changes, different currents, and coating thicknesses.
According to Takahashi, this new model can predict how the coating will turn out before you make it. This ultimately translates into the real world through fewer failed batches, less wasted material, and faster optimisation.
This discovery is not just important for nickel and electrolyser design, however. It could ultimately lead to a reduced cost per unit of green hydrogen.
It will also greatly improve manufacturing consistency, save time, energy, and raw materials. The method could also be applied to other electrochemical processes, not just hydrogen.
Source： Hydrogencentral