József Sándor Pap, the member of the Precious Metal Substitution Electrocatalysts Research Group of the HUN-REN Energy Science Research Center, participating in the Renewable Energy National Laboratory (NLRE) project, shares his thoughts.
The laboratory, renovated within the NLRE project’s framework, creates a new, innovative environment for the experimental developments of the research group carried out in domestic and international cooperation. The group also welcomes here the 6-8 foreign researchers arriving each year through the PacemCat project of the HORIZON Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA), as well as employees of other professional partners. The renovated laboratory is not only the platform for current research, but also a solid basis for future research, development and innovation (RDI) applications.
The research group achieved a significant performance increase in the water splitting reaction with photoanodes by combining cheap and easily available materials in a simple and scalable way, which produces green hydrogen. The group also explored the charge transfer kinetics (the description of the rate of the charge transfer process) using computational methods. The three-component system (hematite, carbon nitride and carbon nanotube) operates permanently under visible light, in a neutral environment, without sacrificial oxidants. Another unique feature is that the carbon nanotube’s source is methane pyrolysis – the process itself produces hydrogen and economically usable carbon material as a carbon dioxide-free by-product.
📄 The study published on the topic can be read through the following link: https://doi.org/10.1039/D4TA02512A
