FC Stack: Copper and Titanium better than Platinum

"The catalyst is made of two cheap and abundant elements, [but] its activity is comparable to the state-of-art platinum catalyst," notes Jiao. The new catalyst is not only more cost-effective but makes the reaction go even faster.

By themselves, copper and titanium are not good catalysts for hydrogen evolution, but combined, they form a unique structure at the atomic scale, similar to that of the platinum catalyst. Moreover, a nanoporosity was created to expose the maximum number of active sites, spots where the reaction can take place.

Inexpensive, efficient bi-metallic electrocatalysts may open floodgates for hydrogen fuel