Electrical energy from wind or sun can be stored as chemical energy in hydrogen, an excellent fuel and energy carrier. The prerequisite for this, however, is efficient electrolysis of water with inexpensive catalysts. For the oxygen evolution reaction at the anode, nanostructured nickel silicide now promises a significant increase in efficiency. This was demonstrated by a group from the HZB, Technical University of Berlin and the Freie Universität Berlin as part of the CatLab research platform with measurements among others at BESSY II.
Electrolysis might be a familiar concept from chemistry lessons in school: Two electrodes are immersed in water and put under voltage. This voltage causes water molecules to break down into their components, and gas bubbles rise at the electrodes: Oxygen gas forms at the anode, while hydrogen bubbles form at the cathode. Electrolysis could produce hydrogen in a CO2-neutral way – as long as the required electricity is generated by fossil free energy forms such as sun or wind.
The only problem is that these reactions are not very efficient and extremely slow. To speed up the reactions, catalysts are used, based on precious and rare metals such as platinum, ruthenium or iridium. For large-scale use, however, such catalysts must consist of widely available and very cheap elements.
Read more on the HZB website
Image: Crystalline nickel silicide (left) is chemically transformed into nanostructured material with excellent catalytic properties for the electrolytic splitting of water and the production of valuable nitrile compounds.
Credit: © P. Menezes /HZB/TU Berlin