Green hydrogen: innovation uses sound waves to amplify production

engineers at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in Australia, increase hydrogen production 14 times using only sound waves. The discovery could contribute to making this energy source cheaper.

Considered by many experts to be the best substitute for carbon-based fuels, hydrogen has a high production cost as it requires the use of expensive electrodes made of platinum or iridium. Increasing the productivity of processes is one way to reduce the final cost.

The use of hydrogen by industry is nothing new. There is an alternative form of production that is normally produced by burning natural gas, which is of interest to experts: electrolysis.

By applying an electric current to the water, rearrange the oxygen and hydrogen atoms it is there and forms the so-called green hydrogen. However, this technique requires the use of electrodes made of very expensive materials such as platinum or iridium.

Sound waves used to our advantage

The use of sound waves in work done by engineers at an Australian university this increased the efficiency of physical-chemical reactions. This means that a single electrode begins to produce much more hydrogen, lowering the final cost of the product.

One of the explanations given by the researchers is that sound vibrations maximize the activity of metals by removing gas bubbles accumulated on the electrode surface.

“With our method, we can potentially increase conversion efficiency, which 27% positive net energy savings‘, says Professor Leslie Yeo, one of the study’s authors, in a note.

In addition to publication, scientists have applied for patents for the technology. However, further research is needed to integrate the discovery with reactors currently used in industry.

ARTICLE Advanced Energy Materials: doi.org/10.1002/aenm.202203164