Self-healing catalysts make it easier to store solar energy with water

Currently one of the most efficient ways to store solar energy is to transfer the energy to catalysts that split water into hydrogen and oxygen. Then the hydrogen can either be used as a fuel or later recombined with oxygen to produce water and release electricity when needed.

However, one of the problems with using water to store solar energy is that the catalysts are made of earth-abundant elements (such as manganese, cobalt, and nickel) that corrode in water with a neutral pH. To address this problem, researchers have designed self-healing catalysts that can regenerate themselves in the presence of other elements, such as negatively charged phosphate or borate ions.

One of the remarkable features of the self-healing catalysts is that, as long as they are operating, there is no limit to the number of times that they can heal themselves.

Read more at Phys.org

 

 

Image Credit: Costentin

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