Hydrogen is considered an environmentally friendly alternative to conventional fossil fuels. Until now, expensive and rare substances such as platinum have been needed for its catalytic production, for example via electrolytic water splitting. More readily available catalysts could make the production of large quantities possible in the future.
The research teams of Helmut Cölfen (Physical Chemistry) and Peter Nielaba (Statistical and Computational Physics) at the University of Konstanz have developed a general method to produce two-dimensional nanoparticles from readily accessible materials, together with researchers from the Ocean University of China, Qingdao (China) and the Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society, Berlin (Germany).
Two-dimensional nanoparticles have a high catalytic potential, which is why this synthetic route is suitable for producing particularly active catalysts.
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