A team of researchers from Pusan National University, Korea, led by Professor Kandasamy Prabakar, have developed a method to design a novel electrocatalyst that can enable commercial on-site production of hydrogen.

Prabakar's team fabricated this electrolyzer by depositing cobalt and manganese ions, in varying proportions, on a Polyaniline (PANI) nanowire array using a simple hydrothermal process. By tuning the Co/Mn ratio, they have achieved an overall high surface area for the reactions to occur, and combined with the high electron conducting capacity of the PANI nanowire, faster charge and mass transfer was facilitated on this catalyst surface. The bimetallic phosphate also confers bifunctional electrocatalytic activity for the simultaneous production of oxygen and hydrogen.

"Water-splitting devices that use this technology can be installed onsite where hydrogen fuel is required, and can function using a low energy input or a completely renewable source of energy," Prabakar said. "For instance, we can produce hydrogen at home for cooking and heating using a solar panel. This way, we can achieve carbon neutrality well before 2050."

In experiments to test the performance of this catalyst, they found that its morphology substantially decreases the reaction overpotential, thereby improving the voltage efficiency of the system. After 40 hours of continuous hydrogen production at 100 mA/cm², its performance remains consistent. And water splitting was possible at a low input voltage of 1.54V.