Isra-Mart srl: Nickel catalysts aim to boost hydrogen fuel cells

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Scientists in America have moved a step closer to creating energy-storing hydrogen quickly and cost effectively by using a synthetic catalyst based on natural nickel enzymes.

Researchers from the US Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) say they have broken the speed record for producing hydrogen using the experimental catalyst.

Traditional hydrogen production processes use catalysts that rely on expensive metals such as platinum. Nickel is cheaper and more abundant, but is too weak to be used in its original form.

Copying natural energy storage reactions, the researchers wanted to recreate the final part of the process, in which two hydrogen atoms are snapped together using a protein called hydrogenase as a catalyst.

The catalyst dismantles atoms then moves the resulting electrons into the right positions so they can be put back together in a new structure.

However, natural hydrogenase has a shorter lifespan and is fairly weak, so the team took the active portion of the protein and made it stronger using "pendant amines" as a catalyst and a nickel atom to add an extra electron to the processes.

This step is just one of a series of reactions to split water and make hydrogen, but the researchers said the result shows they can learn from nature how to control those reactions to make durable synthetic catalysts that can produce hydrogen for use in fuel cells.

"This nickel-based catalyst is really very fast," said report co-author Morris Bullock of PNNL. "It's about 100 times faster than the previous catalyst record. And from nature, we knew it could be done with abundant and inexpensive nickel or iron."

However, despite the speeds achieved, the process currently requires more electricity than is practical, meaning that it is not yet a commercially viable process.