New research is shedding light on one barrier to a clean energy future: corrosion. Using nanoscale imaging techniques, researchers have captured high-resolution videos of tiny crystals of ruthenium dioxide -- a key ingredient used to produce clean-burning hydrogen -- as they are eaten away by their acidic environment.
The research could pave the way to more durable catalysts and dramatically extend the lifetime of devices needed to turn hydrogen green.
"By studying how and why renewable energy devices break down over time, we might be able to extend their lifetime," said chemistry professor and senior author Ivan Moreno-Hernandez. A number of countries have plans to scale up their production of so-called"green hydrogen" to help curb their dependence on fossil fuels, particularly in industries like steel- and cement-making.Part of the trouble is electrolyzers require rare metal catalysts to function, and these are prone to corrosion. They're not the same after a year of operation than they were in the beginning., Moreno-Hernandez and his Ph.D.
The result: desktop-worthy close-ups of virus-sized crystals, more than a thousand times finer than a human hair, as they get oxidized and dissolve into the acidic liquid around them. Zooming in hundreds of thousands of times, the videos reveal subtle defects in the crystals' 3D shapes that create areas of strain, causing some to break down faster than others.
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