Guwahati: Amid the ongoing energy crisis caused by the West Asia conflict, researchers at IIT Guwahati have developed a new composite coating technology that improves the efficiency and durability of solar-powered water-splitting systems for green hydrogen production.The innovation boosts performance by over 50%, marking a big leap towards cleaner energy, reduced reliance on fossil fuels, and progress towards carbon neutrality.The research was published in the international journal Small in a paper co-authored by Prof. Uttam Manna, Prof. Mohammad Qureshi, Dr Hrisikesh Sarma and research scholars Alpana Sahu, Anshika Chaudhary, Sumanta Sarkar, Sourav Mandal and Lingaraj Sahoo from IIT Guwahati.Supported by grants from Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF), the ministry of electronics and information technology, IIT Guwahati, and the ministry of education, the study offers an effective approach to enhancing the long-term performance of solar-driven water-splitting systems.IIT-G said the technology could play a key role in next-generation clean energy systems, especially in sustainable green hydrogen production through solar-assisted water splitting.Uttam Manna, professor at the department of Chemistry at IIT Guwahati, said, “In this study, we successfully demonstrated the positive impact of incorporating a model two-dimensional catalyst, namely graphitic carbon nitride, within an extremely bubble-repellent matrix to promote bubble departure frequency and enhance photo-assisted electrochemical water-splitting performance. As a result, we observed a significant improvement in hydrogen production.”Green hydrogen has gained importance in recent years as a clean energy source that can help cut dependence on fossil fuels. Researchers noted that conventional hydrogen production methods emit large amounts of greenhouse gases. In contrast, green hydrogen is produced by splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen using sunlight. One of the most advanced methods for this is the photo-assisted electrochemical (PAEC) process. However, the process faces two challenges — physically deposited catalyst layers tend to peel off electrode surfaces over time, reducing durability and efficiency, while gas bubbles stick to the electrodes during reactions, blocking active catalytic sites and lowering hydrogen and oxygen production.To overcome these issues, the IIT Guwahati team created a durable, gas-bubble-repelling coating by combining graphitic carbon nitride, a two-dimensional photocatalyst, with a bubble-repellent hydrogel layer on porous nickel foam.Compared with conventional methods, the new composite coating delivered 51% higher hydrogen production and 44% higher oxygen production.
