NEWSROOM

MIT researchers have developed a new way to extract pure hydrogen gas from ammonia and other hydrogen carrier molecules. Their strategy, which uses electricity to speed up the extraction, reduces the temperature and energy required to recover hydrogen from these molecules. As a liquid that is easily stored and transported, ammonia (NH3) is an attractive carrier for hydrogen, which is used in fuel cells, semiconductor manufacturing, chemical processing, and other applications.

image: CuZn800@C was constructed via solvothermal method and utilizes the high-temperature volatility of zinc to prepare through calcination at different temperatures, which displays a high methane Faradaic efficiency of 64.5% and a remarkable partial current density of -551.3 mA/cm2 at -1.7 V vs. RHE, along with excellent stability. Zn and Cu form a tandem reaction system. Zn sites promote water splitting to provide protons, while Cu sites reduce the energy barrier for *CO h

Electrochemical water splitting powered by renewable electricity is a promising pathway to sustainable hydrogen production, but its efficiency and scalability remain limited by costly catalysts and slow reaction kinetics. With €1.5 million in funding from the Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung for five years, Dr. Yongkang Wang and his team will pursue a new approach by visualizing and controlling water at the molecular level, using nanoscale confinement to shape its structure and dynamics a

A joint team from SNU, KAIST, and KBSI has identified the distinct reaction sites of silver nanocatalysts in solid oxide cells. During electricity generation the catalyst–electrode interface dominates, while during hydrogen production the nanoparticle surface is key. The finding enables new design principles for higher-efficiency green hydrogen and clean power systems. Published in Energy & Environmental Science.

In 2024, researchers in the Laboratory of Nanoscience for Energy Technology (LNET) in EPFL’s School of Engineering reported a platform for studying the hydrovoltaic (HV) effect – a phenomenon that allows electricity to be harvested when fluid is passed over the charged surface of a nanodevice. Their platform consisted of a hexagonal network of silicon nanopillars, the space between which created channels for evaporating fluid samples. Now the LNET team, led by Giulia Tagliab

Hair-width LEDs could replace lasers — and a UCSB doctoral student is helping make it happen