Making hydrogen economically demands a quick, efficient reaction. Creating that reaction demands a catalyst. CME scientists found that a proton and water-packed environment lets the catalyst work 50 times faster—without added energy.
Quickly, reliably turning wind energy into fuel means looking beyond the catalyst to its foundation, according to a recent study from the Center for Molecular Electrocatalysis.
At PNNL, scientists have elaborated on a strategy to map the catalytic route. Scientists can now explore design decisions with molecular catalysts that store or release energy from the chemical bond in dihydrogen (H2).
Where protons, or positive charges, decide to rest makes the difference between proceeding towards ammonia (NH3) production or not, according to scientists at PNNL and Villanova University.
In an invited ACS Catalysis Viewpoint paper, scientists at PNNL proposed a way to measure and report the energy efficiency of molecular electrocatalysts.
Scientists at the Center for Molecular Electrocatalysis (CME) devised a new computation-based method to predict the catalytic intermediates that could represent a thermodynamic sink.
Taking a cue from enzymes, researchers at PNNL placed the amino acid arginine at the periphery of a hydrogen-splitting catalyst that cleaves hydrogen into protons and electrons.
Like ripping open a dinner roll, a fuel cell catalyst that converts hydrogen into electricity must tear open a hydrogen molecule. Now researchers have captured a view of such a catalyst holding onto the two halves of its hydrogen feast.
In their invited review for Chemical Communications, Dr. R. Morris Bullock, Dr. Aaron Appel, and Dr. Monte Helm at PNNL describe how proton relays and other factors influence the catalysts that produce the desired chemical bonds.
Using their understanding of a proton's choices, CME researchers revised their nickel-based catalyst to quickly handle one of a fuel cell's tough challenges: breaking chemical bonds and freeing the stored electrons to work.
By directly comparing three closely related catalysts, CME scientists established that hydrogen production speed and efficiency are influenced by the molecules' structure and proton relay arrangement, not the total number relays.
In studying how to modify carbon electrodes for catalyzed reactions, scientists at the Center for Molecular Electrocatalysis designed a process for creating a plethora of specialized electrodes at room temperature.
Few catalysts are energy efficient, highly active, stable and operate in water, but a nickel-based catalyst designed at the Center for Molecular Electrocatalysis at PNNL quickly produces hydrogen molecules in solutions with 75 percent water
Given two catalysts for the job of turning intermittent wind or solar energy into chemical fuels, scientists chose the material that gets the job done quickly and uses the least energy.
A new catalyst is faster when it and its surrounding acid have the same proton donating ability or pKa, according to scientists at the Center for Molecular Electrocatalysis, an Energy Frontier Research Center, at PNNL.
Proton delivery and removal determines if a well-studied catalyst takes its highly productive form or twists into a less useful structure, according to scientists at PNNL.
A fast and efficient iron-based catalyst that splits hydrogen gas to make electricity — necessary to make fuel cells more economical — was reported by researchers at the Center for Molecular Electrocatalysis, based at PNNL.
By grafting features analogous to those in Mother Nature's catalysts onto a synthetic catalyst, scientists at PNNL created a hydrogen production catalyst that is 40% faster than the unmodified catalyst.
Moving four relatively large protons to where they are needed is easier if you build a path, as is being done by scientists at the Center for Molecular Electrocatalysis.
