Catalysing green hydrogen generation with Dr. Yagya Regmi (Manchester Metropolitan University)

Hydrogen will be a key energy carrier as we transition at scale to renewable sources of energy. Additionally, hydrogen is also a vital industrial chemical critical for food processing, fertiliser manufacturing, metal refining and oil upgrading. Electrochemical water splitting is the most mature and promising technology for green hydrogen generation to curtail intermittency of renewables on the energy grid. However, the need to use platinum group metals at high loadings as the catalysts and in other components of proton exchange membrane electrolysers (PEM-ELs) renders the technology expensive. In Dr. Regmi's research group, they are investigating strategies including: 1) engineering catalysts that drastically improve mass activities and durability of precious metal catalysts 2) replace precious metals in catalyst layers and other components with economic and sustainable alternatives. In this presentation, he discusses recent efforts to design supported iridium catalysts for water electrolysis. Dr. Regmi focuses on titanium dioxide supported iridium catalysts currently under investigation. These UK Catalysis Hub funded investigations are to understand properties of the catalysts, especially in operating electrochemical environments. The ultimate goal is to improve intrinsic activities and conductivities to facilitate fabrication of highly efficient and durable electrolysers and unitised regenerative fuel cells.