A recent study led by Associate Professor Alexandr N. Simonov from the Monash University School of Chemistry has made significant strides in stabilizing cobalt catalysts for green hydrogen production. This new research, published in the journal Nature Energy, addresses the immediate concern of iridium shortage. This critical substance is essential to cutting-edge hydrogen production technologies.
The study, titled “Decoupling the catalytic and degradation mechanisms of cobalt active sites during acidic water oxidation,” explores how cobalt-based anodes can be optimized for greater stability under harsh conditions. This advancement could contribute to a cleaner, more sustainable path for hydrogen production. This innovative, integrated approach is key to helping the nation’s energy and chemical industries decarbonize their end products.
While Cobalt is significantly cheaper than iridium, its use in electrolysers has been constrained by stability issues. Professor Simonov emphasized the urgency of their findings, stating, “This research is critical for the development of new anodes that don’t rely on scarce materials.” He explained that existing iridium-based technologies are not at the scale needed to have a meaningful impact.
“But there simply isn’t enough iridium mined to build the scale of electrolysers needed for green hydrogen to truly decarbonize our energy and chemical industries.” – Associate Professor Alexandr N. Simonov
The interdisciplinary research team—led by Associate Professor Rosalie Hocking of Swinburne University of Technology and Dr. Marc Tesch of the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Energy Conversion—collaborated intensely for three years. They used sophisticated spectroscopic, electrochemical, and computational techniques to find their impressive results.
Dr. Tesch remarked on the implications of their findings, saying, “We discovered that the major catalytic functions of these cobalt-based anodes, and their degradation, actually occur independently of each other. That wasn’t what was expected from the previous research.” This revelation brings hope that the future efforts to improve cobalt catalysts are less inextricably linked to our understanding of degradation processes.
“Essentially, we’ve uncovered that these processes run in parallel rather than being directly linked. That gives us a clear pathway to making cobalt-based anodes robust and economically viable for green hydrogen production,” – Associate Professor Rosalie Hocking
Beyond the implications for cobalt catalysts, the study demonstrates significant promise for absorption-dependent applications. As such, the synchrotron methods applied here could be highly informative to other catalytic systems. Co-author Darcy Simondson highlighted the importance of their work by stating, “Cobalt is much cheaper than iridium, but the challenge has always been making cobalt-based catalysts stable enough to survive the harsh conditions inside these electrolysers.”