Research breakthrough could boost clean energy production
ʰǴڱǰHendrik Heinz and his CU Boulder team, along with collaborators from University of California, Los Angeles, achieved a breakthrough that could boost clean energy production. The was featured on the cover of the journal “Nature Catalysis” in July.
In the study, researchers pinpointed the active sites of tiny platinum-alloy catalysts, which are crucial for making fuel cells more efficient at converting water into energy.
Fuel cells generate electricity through a chemical reaction, typically combining hydrogen with oxygen. Unlike traditional combustion engines, they produce energy without burning fuel, making fuel cells a clean, efficient technology, ideal for powering electric vehicles.
The catalysts accelerate the reactions that convert hydrogen and oxygen into electricity, making the process more efficient and enhancing the overall performance of the fuel cell. Using advanced 3D atomic imaging and machine learning, the study revealed how these catalysts work at an atomic level, providing insights that could help design better catalysts to address global energy challenges.
Cheng Zhu, a postdoctoral associate in the Heinz Group, made significant contributions to the study and recently joined the faculty at Guangdong Technion - Israel Institute of Technology (GTIIT) in China.
This research was supported by the National Science Foundation's Materials Genome Initiative, (), including the first Special Creativity Award in the DMREF program. Heinz led the CU Boulder-UCLA team, which has resulted in more than 60 publications, including more than 10 papers in top journals like “Science” and “Nature” and high-level “Nature” journals such as “Nature Catalysis.” The UCLA team included the senior investigators Phillipe Sautet, Yu Huang and Jianwei (John) Miao.