SYLLABUS

GS-3: Science and Technology- Developments and their Applications and Effects in Everyday Life.

Context: A research team led by Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden claims, Hydrogen can be produced using sunlight and water, potentially removing one of the biggest cost and sustainability bottlenecks i.e. Platinum in Green hydrogen production.

More on the News:

• The work, published in Advanced Materials, replaces platinum co-catalysts with nanoparticles made from electrically conductive plastic—materials that are cheaper, more abundant and easier to scale.
• Conventional solar water-splitting catalysts rely on Platinum, which is scarce, environmentally costly to mine, and geographically concentrated in a few countries such as South Africa and Russia.

Working Mechanism of the Breakthrough

• Plastic replacing platinum: The process relies on conjugated polymers—electrically conductive plastics that absorb sunlight efficiently.
• Redesigning the material at the molecular level: By making the polymer chains more hydrophilic and loosely packed, the researchers improved how the particles interact with water and light.
• Process: When immersed in water and exposed to simulated sunlight, the nanoparticles immediately begin producing visible bubbles of hydrogen gas.
• Result: With as little as one gram of the polymer material, it can produce 30 litres of hydrogen in one hour.

Significance of the Breakthrough

• Environment-friendly: The conductive plastic itself can be manufactured without harmful chemicals and at significantly lower cost, making cleaner production across the entire supply chain.
• Economic Benefit: Avoiding platinum could dramatically improve the scalability of solar hydrogen, particularly in countries that lack access to precious metals or want to reduce exposure to geopolitically sensitive supply chains.

Other recent breakthroughs in Green hydrogen production:

• Direct Seawater Electrolysis: Researchers led by the University of Bayreuth have developed a method to produce green hydrogen directly from seawater without needing extra chemicals or purified water.
• Next-Generation Electrolyzers: The STELAH project has delivered new catalysts, electrodes, and configurations for alkaline electrolysis that are more efficient and scalable.
• Advanced Anion-Exchange Membrane Water Electrolysis: New breakthroughs in anion-exchange membrane electrolyzers (AEMWE) demonstrate stable operation at high current densities for long durations, a key step toward industrial-scale production with non-precious metal catalysts.