Microwaves deliver clean energy faster

An interdisciplinary workforce at POSTECH has developed a expertise that addresses key limitations in clear hydrogen manufacturing utilizing microwaves. They’ve additionally efficiently elucidated the underlying mechanism of this revolutionary course of. Their findings, published as the within entrance cowl of Journal of Supplies Chemistry Amark a transformative step within the pursuit of sustainable vitality.

Because the world shifts away from fossil fuelsclear hydrogen has emerged as a number one candidate for next-generation vitality as a result of its zero carbon emissions. Nonetheless, present hydrogen manufacturing applied sciences face vital obstacles. Standard thermochemical strategies, which depend on the oxidation-reduction of metallic oxides, require extraordinarily high temperatures of as much as 1,500°C. These strategies usually are not solely energy-intensive and dear but additionally difficult to scale, limiting their sensible utility.

To handle these challenges, the POSTECH workforce turned to a well-known but underutilized vitality supply: “microwaves” vitality, the identical supply utilized in family microwave ovens. Whereas microwaves are generally related to heating meals, they will additionally drive chemical reactions effectively.

The researchers demonstrated that microwave vitality might decrease the discount temperature of Gd-doped ceria (CeO₂)—a benchmark materials for hydrogen manufacturing—to beneath 600℃, chopping the temperature requirement by over 60%. Remarkably, microwave vitality was discovered to switch 75% of the thermal vitality wanted for the response, a breakthrough for sustainable hydrogen manufacturing.

One other important development lies within the creation of “oxygen vacancies,” that are defects within the materials construction important for splitting water into hydrogen. Standard strategies usually take hours at extraordinarily excessive temperatures to type these vacancies. The POSTECH workforce achieved the identical leads to simply minutes at temperatures beneath 600°C by leveraging microwave expertise. This fast course of was additional validated with a thermodynamic mannequin, which offered beneficial perception into the mechanism underlying the microwave-driven response.

Professor Hyungyu Jin acknowledged, “This research has the potential to revolutionize the commercial viability of thermochemical hydrogen production technologies. It will also pave the way for the development of new materials optimized for microwave-driven chemical processes.”

Professor Gunsu Yun added, “Introducing a new mechanism powered by microwaves and overcoming the limitations of existing processes are major achievements, made possible through the close interdisciplinary collaboration of our research team.”

The analysis workforce was led by Professor Gunsu S. Yun, doctoral candidate Jaemin Yoo (Division of Physics, Division of Superior Nuclear Engineering), Professor Hyungyu Jin, and doctoral candidate Dongkyu Lee (Division of Mechanical Engineering).