First Graphene Limited announced that it has completed a 12-month project in the United Kingdom to develop low-cost, high- performing electrocatalysts for hydrogen production.
Electrocatalysts are materials that reduce the energy required and subsequently speed up the rate of hydrogen and oxygen production when splitting water by electrolysis. They are essential for the economic production of ‘green hydrogen’.
Current state-of-the-art electrocatalysts use high-cost rare metals such as iridium and ruthenium, which drives up operating costs and hinders adoption of water electrolysis for the manufacture of ‘green hydrogen’.
Supported by A$183,000 in funding from Innovate UK, the project trialled production of graphene enhanced water-splitting electrocatalysts.
In this project, First Graphene investigated the optimal formulation of coatings to be applied to electrodes, which were tested against defined performance targets.
The Company benchmarked the graphene enhanced, low-cost electrocatalysts against two different commercial catalyst materials, assessing the product’s stability and mass activity. Results indicated First Graphene’s catalyst requires less energy to produce hydrogen when compared to a commercial iridium catalyst in similar conditions.
Importantly, this means First Graphene’s electrocatalyst has the potential to become a commercially beneficial solution that allows quantities of high-cost and scarce ruthenium to last longer during hydrogen production.
First Graphene’s solution can combine low-cost transition metals with the high conductivity of the company’s world-leading PureGRAPH® platelets to produce higher-performing, affordable electrocatalysts.
The results from the Innovate UK project have been used to leverage further government funding via a new project to assess the details of scaled catalyst production.
The A$155,000 project commenced under The Centre of Expertise in Advanced Materials and Sustainability (CEAMS) pilot scheme in the UK.
The project aims to define process parameters in pilot-scale production of graphene catalyst materials, which is a necessary step towards full-scale production and partnerships with end users.
This provides the company with another opportunity to commercialise catalyst materials without removing resources from existing projects.
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Press release https://shorturl.at/ntU17