Hydrogen is one of the most promising and environmentally friendly energy sources. It is produced by decomposing water into hydrogen and oxygen molecules under the action of electricity. To speed up this process, special helper substances, catalysts, are needed.

Currently, iridium (Ir)–based substances are used as a catalyst for the oxygen release reaction, an element scattered in the Earth's crust, the extraction of which is an energy-consuming and expensive process, said Mikhail Soldatov, PhD, Associate professor at the International Research Institute of Intelligent Materials of the Southern Federal University.

SFedU scientists and colleagues from China proposed using ruthenium instead of iridium, an element that is 5-10 times more abundant in the earth's crust and is widely used in medicine, electronics and the chemical industry. To "fine tune" the properties of the new catalyst, a small number of other elements have been introduced into its composition.

"Imagine that a catalyst is a magnet that must hold the reaction products for a while. If the magnet is too "strong", then the intermediate particles strongly "stick" and slow down the process; if "weak", they do not hold enough of them. A "golden mean" was found by fine–tuning the polarity of the Ru—O bond, by selecting the addition of rare earth metal atoms, which optimizes the interaction force so that the oxygen release reaction takes place easily and steadily," Mikhail Soldatov explained.

The new material will reduce the energy consumption of plants that process water into fuel, as well as reduce equipment wear and reduce heating of plant elements for a more stable oxygen production reaction, the scientist added.

"This catalyst makes it possible to reduce the overvoltage for the oxygen release reaction by tens of millivolts, which is critical for hydrogen energy, where every mV is important. The overvoltage values of 214 mV are better than most catalysts based on ruthenium oxide, which are also less active and stable," the scientist commented.

In the course of further work, SFedU specialists plan to focus on the development of catalysts for other important technological processes in the future.

The research was supported by the Russian Science Foundation (Project No. 24-43-00215) and meets the objectives of the Frontier Laboratory of X-ray Spectral Nanometrology at the SFedU International Institute of Smart Materials, established as part of the SFedU strategic project "Full-cycle Technologies for Rapid Development of Functional Materials Controlled by Artificial Intelligence" of the SFedU Priority 2030 program (national project "Youth and Children"). The results are presented in Nature communications.