IIT Guwahati researchers create material for sustainable hydrogen and drinking water solutions

GUWAHATI: Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati have developed a new material that can generate hydrogen fuel through the electrolysis of water.

Although overall water splitting requires a thermodynamic potential of 1.23 V, this material demonstrates an ultralow Hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) overpotential of only 12 mV, outperforming the commercial Pt/C electrode, thus highlighting its outstanding electrocatalytic performance. In addition, the same material is also shown to support the desalination of seawater using solar energy.

The findings of this research have been published in the prestigious Advanced Functional Materials journal, in a paper co-authored by Prof PK Giri, Professor, Department of Physics, along with his research scholars, Koushik Ghosh, and Sanjoy Sur Roy, at IIT Guwahati.

The first relates to the increasing environmental damage caused by the use of fossil fuels. Hydrogen is often referred to as a clean fuel because when it is used, water is the only by-product and no CO₂ is produced. However, most hydrogen currently in use is generated from fossil fuels. This presents the need for more sustainable processes and materials for obtaining and producing hydrogen.

The second challenge is the shortage of safe drinking water. To address this, desalination of seawater can be one option. However, it is an expensive approach. The use of sunlight for the desalination process can be a cost-effective alternative.

In response, the IIT Guwahati research team developed a MXene-based catalyst that can both produce hydrogen efficiently from water and act as a photocatalyst for desalination. MXenes are a group of two-dimensional materials known for properties such as high electrical conductivity. However, common MXenes have a relatively low active surface area, which restricts their catalytic performance.

To overcome this, the researchers modified the material into ultra-thin, ribbon-like structures to improve charge transport and increase the available active surface area. They also introduced Ruthenium atoms into oxygen-vacant sites in the engineered material to further enhance its catalytic performance.

This combination is believed to strengthen metal-support interactions, resulting in highly improved catalytic activity. The team also carried out advanced computational modelling to understand how these atomic-level modifications contributed to the enhanced performance.

During experiments, the team observed that the engineered material efficiently catalysed the hydrogen evolution reaction when a small amount of additional energy was supplied. The material showed better performance under simulated sunlight due to its excellent photothermal conversion capabilities and maintained stability over longer durations, with minimal decline in performance.

Speaking about the findings of the research, Prof Giri said, “Two-dimensional layered material MXene is a wonder material with multifunctional applications. This study demonstrates the sustainable development of clean hydrogen energy and a drinking water solution using defect engineering of ultrathin MXene. Due to its high performance and improved stability, the developed material has the potential for commercial use.”

As part of the experiments, the MXenes were integrated into a specially designed three-dimensional structure called a Janus evaporator. This device floats on water and reduces energy loss by heating only the surface layer.

Under standard sunlight conditions, it achieved an evaporation rate of approximately 3.2 kg/m²/h. It was tested continuously for five days in saltwater without any salt deposition. The system effectively removed salts and other contaminants, producing water suitable for human consumption according to international water quality standards.

The findings demonstrate the potential of this dual-functional system to support solar-powered desalination as well as more sustainable hydrogen production for use in transportation, industry, and energy storage. (ANI)