The Korea Electronics Technology Institute (KETI, President Shin Hee-dong) has succeeded in synthesizing an atomic-level electrolysis catalyst, which is expected to drastically reduce the use of rare metals and improve performance, thereby becoming a catalyst for future green hydrogen production.

KETI announced on the 4th that it has developed a single-atom catalyst technology that can significantly reduce the use of expensive metal catalysts essential to water electrolysis technology, and that the related content was published in an internationally renowned academic journal in the field of chemical engineering.

Water electrolysis technology is a process of separating water into hydrogen and oxygen using electrical energy, and is known as a clean energy technology that produces green hydrogen that does not emit any carbon emissions.

Currently, rare metals such as platinum (Pt) and iridium (Ir) and core minerals such as nickel (Ni) and cobalt (Co) are mainly used as catalyst materials that cause electric reactions in water, but problems such as high prices and supply shortages have been consistently raised.

The most notable feature of the single-atom catalyst successfully developed by the research team at the KETI Renewable Energy Research Center is that it has the same performance and durability with only about 1% of metal, compared to existing catalysts with metal contents of 40-70%.

The KETI research team polymerized a specific organic substance (dopamine) onto a very small amount of nickel (1% of the catalyst component) to form nickel at the atomic level. We created an existing environment and synthesized a highly efficient single-atom catalyst through a series of chemical processes, including thermal decomposition.

According to Principal Researcher Lim Hyeon-su (PhD) and Researcher Park Jin-woo (PhD candidate), who led the technology development, single-atom catalysts theoretically have a catalyst utilization rate close to 100% for a single particle compared to bulk catalysts composed of lumps of atoms, so they showed performance equivalent to commercial catalysts with just a small amount of metal.

In addition, since the use of expensive metals is significantly reduced due to the use of single-atom catalysts, the price competitiveness for producing electrolysis catalysts is expected to improve.

The results of this study, which was promoted through the KETI Basic Research Project in the Future Strategic Technology Field and the National Core Materials Research Group (Nano and Introducing Technology Development Project) of the National Research Foundation of Korea, were published in the latest issue (No. 468) of the world-renowned academic journal in the field of chemical engineering, the Chemical Engineering Journal (IF=16.744), under the title, “Development of a Porous Nickel Single-Atom Catalyst for Hydrogen Evolution Reaction.”

Park No-chang, director of KETI’s Renewable Energy Research Center, said, “Single-atom catalysts can contribute to the realization of true green hydrogen in that they can drastically reduce the amount of metal used,” and “The center will actively pursue the commercialization of single-atom catalyst technology in the future to lay the future foundation for the spread of eco-friendly energy.”