Research team develops catalyst that can purify municipal sewage while enhancing hydrogen generation efficiency

March 18, 2024

Researchers have devised a novel catalyst aimed at enhancing the efficiency of reactions using contaminated municipal sewage to produce hydrogen—a green energy source.

With the growing environmental concerns of pollution associated with fossil fuel, hydrogen has garnered increased interest. Water electrolysis technology is a sustainable process that leverages Earth's abundant water to produce hydrogen. However, the concurrent oxygen evolution reaction during hydrogen production is notably slow, resulting in a considerably low energy conversion efficiency.

Lately, the academic community has been tackling this issue by integrating the urea oxidation reaction with the hydrogen generation reaction. Urea, a pollutant found in urine, releases a significant amount of energy during its oxidation process, offering a potential means to enhance both the efficiency of hydrogen generation and the purification of toilet wastewater.