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Choreographing water molecules to speed up hydrogen production

A technical feat reveals subtle changes in water structure that can accelerate hydrogen production at an electrode interface. The catalytic process could be developed to help boost supply of this clean fuel.
  1. Matthias M. Waegele

    1. Matthias M. Waegele is in the Department of Chemistry, Merkert Chemistry Center, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts 02467, USA.

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Electrocatalysis, which accelerates chemical reactions driven by an electric potential at a solid–liquid interface, could be a key contributor to a sustainable global economy because it can convert electrical energy from renewable power sources into green fuels such as hydrogen gas1. Writing in Nature, Wang and colleagues2 describe an important advance in the molecular understanding of how the rate of an electrocatalytic process is rooted in the structure of water at the interface between a solid electrode and an aqueous salt solution (an electrolyte). Their findings could help to improve the reaction selectivity and energy efficiency of electrocatalytic interfaces.

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Nature 600, 43-44 (2021)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-03511-5

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Competing Interests

The author declares no competing interests.

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