Cheap and efficient catalyst could boost renewable energy storage

The catalyst material. Credit: CityU - Storing renewable energy as hydrogen could soon become much easier thanks to a new catalyst based on single atoms of platinum. The new catalyst, designed by researchers at City University Hong Kong (CityU) and tested by colleagues at Imperial College London, could be cheaply scaled up for mass use. The new electrocatalyst could be a major contributor to ultimately helping the UK meet its net-zero goals by 2050. Professor Anthony Kucernak - Co-author Professor Anthony Kucernak , from the Department of Chemistry at Imperial, said: "The UK Hydrogen Strategy sets out an ambition to reach 10GW of low-carbon hydrogen production capacity by 2030. To facilitate that goal, we need to ramp up the production of cheap, easy-to-produce and efficient hydrogen storage. The new electrocatalyst could be a major contributor to this, ultimately helping the UK meet its net-zero goals by 2050." Renewable energy generation, from sources like wind and solar, is rapidly growing.