Breakthrough Porous Crystal Catalyst Boosts Hydrogen Production Efficiency

Breakthrough Catalyst Design Enhances Hydrogen Production | Quantum Server Networks Porous crystal catalyst image

April 23, 2025 | Quantum Server Networks — A team of researchers from Tohoku University has unveiled a promising advance in the field of hydrogen production: a mesoporous, single-crystalline Co3O4 catalyst doped with atomically dispersed iridium. This innovation offers a significant leap in the performance and durability of acidic oxygen evolution reaction (OER) catalysts, a key component of water-splitting technologies used to generate clean hydrogen.

Maximizing Iridium's Power — Atom by Atom

Iridium, though excellent for OER, is among the rarest and most expensive elements. To overcome this bottleneck, researchers engineered a spinel-structured catalyst capable of hosting high iridium content (13.8 wt%) without forming performance-limiting clusters. Instead, this mesoporous structure creates unique Co-Ir bridge sites, improving reactivity while significantly minimizing material loss.

Durability Meets Efficiency

Under demanding acidic OER conditions, conventional catalysts suffer from passivation and metal leaching. However, the newly developed Ir-doped Co3O4 catalyst showed remarkable resilience, reducing iridium and cobalt leaching by 75% and 80%, respectively. Impressively, the catalyst operated stably for over 100 hours with an overpotential of just 248 mV — a critical benchmark for commercial viability.

Computational Insights & Future Applications

Density Functional Theory (DFT) simulations revealed how iridium reactivates passivated Co sites while enhancing the catalyst's structural integrity. This dual role makes it a strong candidate for integration in future electrolyzers. The Hao Li Lab, which led the research, plans to optimize doping strategies and scale up synthesis for industrial applications.

Explore the Full Study

More technical details and modeling resources are available via the Digital Catalysis Platform by the Hao Li Lab. Read the full research report published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society:

https://phys.org/news/2025-04-porous-crystal-catalyst-durable-efficient.html

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