A team of materials scientists, led by distinguished professor Michel Barsoum, PhD, and doctoral researcher Hussein O. Badr, PhD, have developed a breakthrough titanium oxide nanofilament material that can efficiently split H₂ from water using only sunlight. In tests, the material outperformed leading commercial photocatalysts by a factor of 10 and remained stable for more than 6 months. The discovery could uncouple large-scale production of H₂ from the use of fossil fuels.

Barsoum said the inexpensive, scalable material could help “unlock the potential of green H₂. The nanofilaments may also have applications in solar cells, batteries and water purification. The breakthrough builds on Drexel’s ongoing clean energy research to develop materials for technologies like H₂ fuel cells. Further studies are underway to confirm this and optimize the nanofilaments, but initial results are so promising that the team has already founded a startup to commercialize the technology, working with Drexel’s Office of Innovation.