{"id":14209,"date":"2022-11-07T16:11:06","date_gmt":"2022-11-07T08:11:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cde.nus.edu.sg\/mse\/?post_type=nus-news&p=14209"},"modified":"2024-12-26T10:41:07","modified_gmt":"2024-12-26T02:41:07","slug":"nus-researchers-devise-revolutionary-technique-to-generate-hydrogen-more-efficiently-from-water","status":"publish","type":"nus-news","link":"https:\/\/cde.nus.edu.sg\/mse\/news\/nus-researchers-devise-revolutionary-technique-to-generate-hydrogen-more-efficiently-from-water\/","title":{"rendered":"NUS researchers devise revolutionary technique to generate hydrogen more efficiently from water"},"content":{"rendered":"

The team\u2019s discovery that light can trigger a brand new electro-catalytic mechanism of water electrolysis could improve affordability of hydrogen as source of clean energy<\/h2>\n
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An NUS team led by Assoc Prof Xue Jun Min (centre) has found that light can trigger a new mechanism in a catalytic material used extensively in water electrolysis (held up by Mr Zhong Haoyin), where water is broken down into hydrogen and oxygen. The result is a more energy-efficient method of obtaining hydrogen. Dr Vincent Lee Wee Siang (right) is a member of the research team.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

A team of researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS) have made a serendipitous scientific discovery that could potentially revolutionise the way water is broken down to release hydrogen gas \u2013 an element crucial to many industrial processes.<\/p>\n

The team, led by Associate Professor Xue Jun Min, Dr Wang Xiaopeng and Dr Vincent Lee Wee Siang from the\u00a0Department of Materials Science and Engineering<\/a>\u00a0under the\u00a0College of Design and Engineering, NUS (NUS CDE)<\/a>, found that light can trigger a new mechanism in a catalytic material used extensively in water electrolysis, where water is broken down into hydrogen and oxygen. The result is a more energy-efficient method of obtaining hydrogen.<\/p>\n

This breakthrough was achieved in collaboration with Dr Xi Shibo from the\u00a0Institute of Sustainability for Chemicals, Energy and Environment\u00a0under the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR); Dr Yu Zhigen from the Institute of High Performance Computing under A*STAR; and Dr Wang Hao from the Department of Mechanical Engineering under the NUS CDE.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe discovered that the redox center for electro-catalytic reaction is switched between metal and oxygen, triggered by light,\u201d said Assoc Prof Xue. \u201cThis largely improves the water electrolysis efficiency.\u201d<\/p>\n

The new finding can potentially open up new and more effective industrial methods of producing hydrogen and putting this environmentally friendly source of fuel within the reach of more people and industries.<\/p>\n

Assoc Prof Xue and his team detailed their discovery in a research paper published in renowned scientific journal\u00a0Nature<\/i><\/a>\u00a0on 26 October 2022.<\/p>\n

T<\/u><\/strong>he accidental breakthrough<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

Under normal circumstances, Assoc Prof Xue and his team may not have been able to come across such a groundbreaking discovery. But an accidental power trip of the ceiling lights in his laboratory almost three years ago allowed them to observe something that the global scientific community has not yet managed to do.<\/p>\n

Back then, the ceiling lights in Assoc Prof Xue\u2019s research lab were usually turned on for 24 hours. One night in 2019, the lights went off due to a power trip. When the researchers returned the next day, they found that the performance of a nickel oxyhydroxide-based material in the water electrolysis experiment, which had continued in the dark, had fallen drastically.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis drop in performance, nobody has ever noticed it before, because no one has ever done the experiment in the dark,\u201d said Assoc Prof Xue. \u201cAlso, the literature says that such a material shouldn\u2019t be sensitive to light; light should not have any effect on its properties.\u201d<\/p>\n

The electro-catalytic mechanism in water electrolysis is a very well-researched topic, while the nickel-based material is a very common catalytic material. Hence, in order to establish that they were on the verge of discovering something groundbreaking, Assoc Prof Xue and his team embarked on numerous repeated experiments. They dug deeper into the mechanics behind such a phenomenon. They even repeated the experiment outside of Singapore to ensure that their findings were consistent.<\/p>\n

Three years on, Assoc Prof Xue and his team were finally able to share their findings publicly in a paper.<\/i><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/p>\n

The groundbreaking discovery made by Assoc Prof Xue Jun Min (centre) and his team could improve affordability of hydrogen as source of clean energy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Next steps<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

With their findings, the team is now working on designing a new way to improve industrial processes to generate hydrogen. Assoc Prof Xue is suggesting making the cells containing water to be transparent, so as to introduce light into the water splitting process.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis should require less energy in the electrolysis process, and it should be much easier using natural light,\u201d said Assoc Prof Xue. \u201cMore hydrogen can be produced in a shorter amount of time, with less energy consumed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Food companies use hydrogen gas to turn unsaturated oils and fats into saturated ones, which give us margarine and butter. Hydrogen is also used to weld metals together, as it can generate a high temperature of 4,000 deg C. The petroleum industry uses the gas to remove sulphur content from oil.<\/p>\n

Moreover, hydrogen can potentially be used as a fuel. Long-touted as a sustainable fuel, hydrogen fuel produces no emissions as it burns upon reacting with oxygen \u2014 no ignition is needed, making it a cleaner and greener fuel source. It is also easier to store, making it more reliable than solar-powered batteries.<\/p>\n

Assoc Prof Xue is glad that the findings from his team of researchers could contribute to scientific discovery. He thinks that the way to develop science is not to keep finding new ways to do what has already been done, but to constantly push the boundaries.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s only through accumulation of new knowledge that we can improve society progressively,\u201d said Assoc Prof Xue.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Article from NUS News<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The team\u2019s discovery that light can trigger a brand new electro-catalytic mechanism of water electrolysis could improve affordability of hydrogen as source of clean energy An NUS team led by Assoc Prof Xue Jun Min (centre) has found that light can trigger a new mechanism in a catalytic material used extensively in water electrolysis (held<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":229,"featured_media":14211,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"news_category":[36],"class_list":["post-14209","nus-news","type-nus-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news_category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cde.nus.edu.sg\/mse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/14209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cde.nus.edu.sg\/mse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cde.nus.edu.sg\/mse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/nus-news"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cde.nus.edu.sg\/mse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/229"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/cde.nus.edu.sg\/mse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/14209\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17441,"href":"https:\/\/cde.nus.edu.sg\/mse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/14209\/revisions\/17441"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cde.nus.edu.sg\/mse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cde.nus.edu.sg\/mse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cde.nus.edu.sg\/mse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news_category?post=14209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}