Project description
A stable, low-cost catalyst for hydrogen production from water splitting
Hydrogen will play a key role in a low-carbon future. It can be sustainably produced by using renewable energy sources, such as solar, to split water molecules. Proton-exchange membrane (PEM) electrolysers are a mature technology, but its deployment is being held back due to lack of stable, cost-effective catalysts that contain non-precious metals. A former EU-funded project, PhotocatH2ode, studied a coordination polymer structure for amorphous molybdenum sulphide. It refined the understanding of its catalytic mechanism and developed strategies to remedy reductive corrosion issues that have so far limited the implementation of this earth-abundant hydrogen evolution catalyst in PEM electrolysers. The PRODUCE-H2 project was established to optimise the formulation of this catalyst and assemble it in polymer membranes, assess its performance and upscale its production.
Objective
Hydrogen (H2) generated from renewable energies, such as solar and wind, and water has a huge potential as a carbon-free energy vector which can be exploited on demand through fuel cell technologies. Proton-exchange membrane electrolysers (PEMEL) are a mature technology that can be coupled with intermittent renewable power sources. However their wide deployment still depends on innovative breakthroughs regarding the design of alternative catalysts avoiding the use of precious metals and fulfilling three main characteristics: sustainability, cost-effectiveness and stability.
In the “PhotocatH2ode” ERC Frontier Research Starting Grant (consolidator stream), we explored a coordination polymer structure for amorphous molybdenum sulfide (a-MoSx), refined the understanding of its catalytic mechanism (Artero and coll., Nature material 2016) and developed strategies to remedy reductive corrosion issues that so far limited the implementation of such earth-abundant H2 evolution catalysts in PEMEL. We aim at exploiting these new findings in PRODUCE-H2, an ERC Proof of Concept project which proposes to (1) optimize the formulation of these catalytic materials and assemble them in polymer-membranes, (2) assessing their performance and quantifying their stability during long-term tests performed under realistic operating conditions, (3) upscaling their production thanks to a newly developed synthetic process and (4) implementing them in a noble-metal-free PEMEL prototype. PRODUCE-H2 will exploit pre-existing and newly created intellectual property with the aim of proposing a cost-effective industrial solution for PV-coupled on-site hydrogen production. This project will be in close collaboration with Toyota Motor Europe who have been selling fuel cell cars since 2015.
Fields of science
- natural scienceschemical scienceselectrochemistryelectrolysis
- natural scienceschemical sciencesinorganic chemistrytransition metals
- natural scienceschemical sciencescatalysis
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringenergy and fuelsfuel cells
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringenergy and fuelsrenewable energyhydrogen energy
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
ERC-POC - Proof of Concept GrantHost institution
75015 PARIS 15
France