Australian National University (ANU) researchers have managed to push forward the efficiency of solar-to-hydrogen production that bypasses electrolysers and avoids AC/DC power conversion and transmission losses. They have recently managed to reach 17.6% efficiency, achieved with perovskite-silicon tandem absorbers, and they say their process is open to further refinement that could see clean hydrogen production become cost competitive with other fuels, including brown hydrogen and gas, more quickly than expected.

Perovskite-Si dual-absorber tandem PEC cell for self-driven water splitting. a) Schematic showing a perovskite solar cell wired to a Si photo-cathode in tandem, and a DSA anode. b) A representative general energy band diagram. Image: ANU

Australian National University (ANU) researchers, in a newly-released study lead by Dr. Siva Krishna Karuturi and Dr. Heping Shen, state that although PV modules have become a commercially viable method large-scale renewable energy generation, 'Achieving global renewable energy transition further relies on addressing the intermittency of solar electricity through the development of transportable energy storage means.'

A team of researchers from Idaho National Laboratory (INL) has developed a new electrode material that simplifies hydrogen generation and energy storage via protonic, ceramic electrochemical cells (PCECs).

The INL team developed a perovskite-based oxygen electrode that not only enables operation at considerably lower temperatures than current technologies require (400'600ºC), but also exhibits 'triple-conducting' behavior ' it can conduct electrons, oxygen ions and protons within a PCEC.

Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Idaho National Laboratory (INL) have used an oxide of perovskite to create an oxygen electrode for use in electrochemical cells used for hydrolysis-based hydrogen production.

The researchers claim the perovskite oxide could help such cells convert hydrogen and oxygen into electricity without additional hydrogen.

Rice University researchers have created an efficient, low-cost device that splits water to produce hydrogen fuel. The platform integrates catalytic electrodes and perovskite solar cells that, when triggered by sunlight, produce electricity. The current flows to the catalysts that turn water into hydrogen and oxygen, with a sunlight-to-hydrogen efficiency as high as 6.7%.

Researchers from the University of Aberdeen have reported that a new family of chemical compounds known as 'hexagonal perovskites' could be extremely beneficial for ceramic fuel cell technology and reducing global carbon emissions.

Ceramic fuel cells are highly efficient devices that convert chemical energy into electrical energy and produce very low emissions if powered by hydrogen, providing a clean alternative to fossil fuels. Another advantage of ceramic fuel cells is that they can also use hydrocarbon fuels such as methane, meaning they can act as a 'bridging' technology which is an important asset in terms of the move away from hydrocarbons towards cleaner energy sources.

A team of researchers from Japan's Tokyo Tech have demonstrated perovskites' potential in the production of ammonia directly from hydrogen and nitrogen. This has the potential to open up a new approach to the manufacture of this industrially and agrochemically important gas. Ammonia is used widely an industrial reagent and in the formation of agricultural fertilizers, there are also examples of it being used as a "clean" energy carrier for hydrogen gas for fuel cells.

Masaaki Kitano and his team at Tokyo Tech point out that the main barrier to a facile synthesis of ammonia from hydrogen and nitrogen gas is the surmounting the high energy barrier needed to split diatomic nitrogen. Nitrogen-fixing plants, of course, can handle this process with a range of enzymes evolved over millions of years and metals catalysts coupled with high temperatures and pressures are the mainstays of the industrial process. There have been efforts to make perovskites in which some of their oxygen atoms have been replaced with hydrogen and nitrogen ions to act as ammonia forming materials, but these too only work at a high temperature of more than 800 degrees Celsius and the reaction takes weeks to proceed to completion. These two factors had until now meant perovskites were not looking too promising as a way to create a new ammonia process.

Researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory are evaluating perovskite-structured rare-earth nickelates as alternatives to replace two reactions that are considered a challenge when it comes to electrocatalysts: the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and the oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Both are important for the development of better fuel cells, metal-air batteries, and electrolytic water-splitting.

Materials such as platinum, iridium oxide and ruthenium oxide are well suited for these reactions, but they are scarce and expensive. The team has been working to study perovskite-structured rare-earth nickelates (RNiO₃) that can serve as bifunctional catalysts capable of performing both OER and ORR.

A team of researchers at Northwestern University has created a new fuel cell with a perovskite-based cathode, that offers both exceptional power densities and long-term stability at optimal temperatures.

"For years, industry has told us that the holy grail is getting fuel cells to work at 500-degrees Celsius and with high power density, which means a longer life and less expensive components," said the team. "With this research, we can now envision a path to making cost-effective fuel cells and transforming the energy landscape."

Fuel cells are a hoped to be a key future energy technology for achieving renewable energy sources that are eco-friendly and low-cost. In particular, solid oxide fuel cells composed of ceramic materials are gaining increasing amounts of attention for their ability to directly convert various forms of fuel such as biomass, LNG, and LPG to electric energy. Researchers at KAIST have relied on pervoskite materials to develop a new technique to improve the chemical stability of electrode materials that can extend their lifespan by employing minimal amounts of metals.

The core factor that determines the performance of solid oxide fuel cells is the cathode at which the reduction reaction of oxygen takes place. Conventionally, perovskite structure oxides (ABO3) are used in cathodes. However, despite the high performance of perovskite oxides at initial operation, performance degrades with time, limiting their long-term use. In particular, the condition of a high-temperature oxidation state required for cathode operation leads to a surface segregation phenomenon in which second phases such as strontium oxide (SrOx) accumulate on the surface of oxides, resulting in a decrease in electrode performance. The detailed mechanism of this phenomenon and a way to effectively inhibit it has not been suggested.

A team of researchers from the U.S-based Georgia Institute of Technology have designed ultrafine perovskite nanofibers as highly efficient and stable catalysts for OER - oxygen evolution reaction, a component reaction of the electrochemical splitting of water into hydrogen and oxygen. Water splitting is a key step in a number of sustainable energy technologies including hydrogen production, fuel cells, and rechargeable metal-air batteries.

The OER takes place at the anode of an electrolyzer, while the hydrogen evolution reaction takes place at the cathode. The energy required for the reaction is supplied by an electronic current. Currently, a large overpotential is required to accelerate the OER. For this reason, water splitting technologies for hydrogen production are not very competitive as the increased energy required results in more expensive hydrogen compared with production from natural gas. Therefore, much research is focused on the search for cost-effective, efficient and stable catalysts for the OER that can reduce the required overpotential. The new research highlights the potential of doped double perovskite nanofibers as the next generation of OER catalysts.