RANCHI: In a major breakthrough aligned with India’s clean energy ambitions, researchers at Indian Institute of Technology, Indian School of Mines (IIT-ISM) – Dhanbad have developed a low-cost and efficient electrode material that could significantly reduce the cost of green hydrogen production by 400 to 500 times.
The innovation comes at a crucial time when India is pushing forward with its National Green Hydrogen Mission, which aims to produce five million tonnes of green hydrogen annually by 2030. Green hydrogen, produced through water splitting using renewable energy, is considered a key solution to reducing carbon emissions from industries such as steel, fertilisers, petroleum refining and chemicals.
The research was led by Dr SK Riyajuddin, INSPIRE Faculty in the Department of Physics, IIT-ISM, along with his research scholars Priyadarshani Tamang and Rumana Sultana Parvin. Explaining the significance of the work, Dr Riyajuddin said, “One of the biggest challenges in green hydrogen production is the high cost of catalysts. Currently, noble metals like platinum and ruthenium are widely used, but they are expensive and scarce. Our goal was to design a cost-effective alternative using earth-abundant materials.”
According to Riyajuddin, the team has developed a novel catalyst by combining molybdenum disulfide and vanadium sulphide with reduced graphene oxide, creating a highly conductive and efficient system. The material uses low-cost elements such as molybdenum, vanadium, sulphur and carbon, making it economically viable for large-scale applications and is expected to reduce the production cost up to 400 -500 times, he said.
“Our material shows a strong synergistic effect, which reduces the energy required for electrochemical water splitting,” said Dr Riyajuddin. This means hydrogen can be produced more efficiently without relying on costly precious metals, he added.
