Electricity can be generated by renewable sources such as sunlight, wind Electricity can then be used to split water, which makes hydrogen as a fuel for emerging energy devices such as fuel cells. Because hydrogen is a clean fuel, researchers in the world are putting a lot of effort in developing water-splitting catalysts, which are essential for the reaction's energy efficiency.
The focus is mostly on the so-called oxygen evolution reaction (OER), which is arguably the most challenging process in water splitting. After many years of intense research, nickel-iron oxide is now established as the go-to catalyst for OER in alkaline conditions due to its high activity and earth-abundant composition, and also because it has the highest activity per reaction-site among all metal oxides.
About three years ago, scientists with the lab of Xile Hu at EPFL discovered another catalyst that was significantly more active than nickel-iron oxide, even though it had a similar composition. Still, it was robust, easy to synthesize, and open to industrial applications.
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