A non-precious metal catalyst technology capable of dramatically improving the efficiency of water electrolysis, which is the core of eco-friendly hydrogen production technology, has been developed by domestic researchers.

The Korea Institute of Materials Science (KIMS) announced on the 17th that it has taken a step closer to realizing a hydrogen economy by developing a high-performance alkaline water electrolysis catalyst through atomic structure control using iron (Fe).

A research team led by Dr. Park Da-hee at the Hydrogen Fuel Cell Materials Research Center of the Energy and Environmental Materials Research Division at the Korea Institute of Materials Science (KIMS) succeeded in simultaneously controlling the lattice structure and oxygen defects within the catalyst by substituting some atoms of molybdenum oxide (MoOx) with iron.

This technology is characterized by significantly improving the reaction rate of the oxygen evolution reaction (OER), where the greatest energy loss occurs during the water electrolysis process.

Water electrolysis is a representative eco-friendly technology that produces hydrogen by electrolyzing water, but it requires high voltage and energy due to the inefficiency of the OER reaction.

Previously, precious metal catalysts were used to solve this problem, but commercialization was limited due to high costs and resource constraints.

Accordingly, the research team focused on designing a new catalyst utilizing inexpensive and abundant iron and molybdenum.

The research team applied an aerosol spray pyrolysis process to iron-substituted molybdenum oxide The catalyst was synthesized in a single process.

The iron-oxygen-molybdenum bond structure formed during this process increased the electrical conductivity of the catalyst and contributed to maintaining structural stability even during prolonged use.

In addition, by precisely controlling the heat treatment conditions to simultaneously induce lattice distortion and oxygen vacancies, the number of reaction active sites was significantly increased.

In particular, as core-shell and yoke-shell porous structures were formed inside the catalyst, the contact area between the electrode and the electrolyte was expanded, and the mechanism by which lattice oxygen directly participates in the reaction was activated, significantly improving the efficiency of the oxygen evolution reaction.

As a result, it maintained low overvoltage even under high current density conditions and recorded stable performance for over 100 hours.

The results of this research are evaluated as a practical technology applicable to large-scale alkaline water electrolysis systems.

By presenting the potential to replace precious metal catalysts, it is expected to contribute to reducing hydrogen production costs and realizing a carbon-neutral society.

Senior Researcher Park Da-hee stated, “This is a case where catalytic performance was maximized by simultaneously controlling the atomic arrangement and defects of low-cost metals,” adding, “We plan to expand this to various electrochemical energy conversion technologies in the future.”

Meanwhile, the results of this study were published in the international academic journal ChemSusChem and selected as a cover article, receiving recognition for their technical excellence.