On Tuesday, June 29, South Ural State University (SUSU) reported that its research team had suggested a new catalyst for water electrolysis that could replace expensive platinum-group metals. For this purpose, scientists studied the properties of barium hexaferrite. They used it as an oxygen-evolving catalyst during water electrolysis and determined a chemical compound that fits the task best.
"We thought nickel-doped hexaferrite would be an optimal solution. Yet, it turned out it is advantageous only from a thermodynamic point of view. The biggest surprise was when we discovered titanium-bearing hexaferrite to have high kinetic activity resulting from the increased mobility of charge carriers inside the material. By putting in some more energy to such materials, we substantially increase the amount of oxygen obtained", says Pavel Abramov, Doctor of Chemistry, Senior Researcher at the Laboratory of Crystallochemical Design of Functional Materials at the Research Institute for Advanced Materials and Resource-Efficient Technologies of South Ural State University.
Oxygen has several uses: to raise the temperature in metallurgical production, as an oxidising agent in the chemical industry; in medicine, it is necessary for artificial lung ventilation – a particularly pressing issue at this moment. Other areas of its application include gas welding and metal cutting.
The scientific community is currently looking into cheaper alternatives to expensive platinum-group metals – such as iridium, for instance – used as catalysts in the production of oxygen by water electrolysis, SUSU's Press Office informs. Since barium hexaferrite is of significantly lower cost, the university's development assumes great practical importance.
SUSU collaborated on this research with the Institute of Inorganic Chemistry, the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and the Scientific and Practical Center of the National academy of Sciences of Belarus. Next on the research group's agenda is to study the electrochemical activity of complex substituted ferrites, along with their photoactivity and photostability.
Let us recall that Kazan (Volga region) Federal University has presented an innovative technology for producing asphalt bitumen. The scientists of the 'Rational Utilisation of Planet's Liquid Hydrocarbon Reserves' World-Class Scientific Center proposed using heavy oil, a hydrocarbon material that is rather hard to process.
