NewHydrogen has expanded its existing sponsored research arrangement with the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) to develop technologies for green hydrogen production at a lower cost.

The new agreement, which includes an enhanced budget, broadens the scope of the initiative developing non-precious metal-based oxygen evolution reaction (OER) catalysts.

UCLA researchers have developed a catalyst based on non-precious metals that significantly improved OER in acidic circumstances by changing a portion of the existing metal element in the aforementioned catalyst material structure. The low cost and endurance of the catalyst make it an attractive contender for commercial water electrolysis systems operating at high current densities.

“We are very pleased to broaden our clean energy research program at UCLA with Dr. Huang and her team, a group whose collaboration we have a high level of confidence in,” said Dr. David Lee, CEO of NewHydrogen. “Thus we have decided to further extend the OER side of the sponsored research program.”

The Company’s prior revision to the supported research program increased its emphasis on drastically decreasing or replacing the platinum catalyst used in the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Platinum is so rare that just 200 tons are mined each year, despite the fact that demand for it continues to grow in applications such as batteries, fuel cells, fiber optics, LCD displays, and cancer therapy.

The researchers intend to scale up the procedure in the future for use in electrolyzer experiments. Eventually, a fully functional hydrogen-producing electrolyzer combining both the Company’s OER and HER catalysts will serve as a reference prototype to assist electrolyzer manufacturers worldwide in evaluating NewHydrogen’s anticipated low-cost green hydrogen production technology.