Many different traits have tried to define us over the years, but honestly speaking, none have done a better than that tendency to pursue growth under all circumstances. This relentless commitment to improvement has brought the world some huge milestones, with technology emerging as quite a major member of the group. The reason why we hold technology in such a high regard is, by and large, predicated upon its skill-set, which ushered us towards a reality that nobody could have ever imagined otherwise. Nevertheless, if we look beyond the surface for a second, it will become clear how the whole runner was also very much inspired from the way we applied those skills across a real world environment. The latter component, in fact, did a lot to give the creation a spectrum-wide presence, and as a result, initiate a full-blown tech revolution. Of course, this revolution eventually went on to scale up the human experience through some outright unique avenues, but even after achieving a feat so notable, technology will somehow continue to bring forth the right goods. The same has turned more and more evident in recent times, and assuming one new discovery ends up with the desired impact, it will only put that trend on a higher pedestal moving forward.

The researching team at Drexel University’s College of Engineering has successfully developed a titanium oxide nanofilament material, which can treat sunlight as an ideal source to facilitate hydrogen production. To understand the significance of such a development, we must acknowledge how the current methods for generating the said hydrogen produce so much of harmful greenhouse gases, while simultaneously requiring extensive energy reserves. That being said, the Photocatalysis process of using sunlight to split hydrogen from water isn’t exactly new. However, all those previous efforts have come to a standstill against one big problem, and that problem is how the catalyst materials enabling the process just wouldn’t survive for more than a day or two. This limitation, like you can guess, raised questions about the method’s long-term efficiency, as well as its commercial viability. Fortunately, the study in question discovered photocatalytic titanium oxide-based, one-dimensional nanofilament material can make sunlight extract hydrogen from water for months at a time.

“Our titanium oxide one-dimensional nanofilaments photocatalyst showed activity that is substantially higher—by an order of magnitude—than its commercial titanium oxide counterpart,” said Hussein O. Badr, one of the researchers involved in the study. “Moreover, our photocatalyst was found to be stable in water for 6 months—these results represent a new generation of photocatalysts that can finally launch the long-awaited transition of nanomaterials from lab to market.”

Following their discovery, the team tested it by taking a total of five different titanium oxide-based HDNs, sourced from various low-cost and readily available precursor materials and comparing them to Evonik Aeroxide’s titanium oxide material called P25. In case you didn’t know, P25 is widely accepted as the photocatalyst material closest to commercial viability. Anyway, during the process, each HDN was submerged in a water-methanol solution. Next up, it was exposed to ultraviolet-visible light produced by a tunable illuminator lamp which can mimic the spectrum of the sun. Once that bit was done too, they finally measured both the amount of hydrogen produced and duration of activity in each reactor assembly, along with the number of photons that produced hydrogen when they interacted with the catalyst material. Going by the available details, all five titanium oxide-based HDNs photocatalysts performed more efficiently at using sunlight to produce hydrogen than the P25 material. One material was even found to be 10 times more efficient than P25 at enabling photons to split off hydrogen from the water.

“The fact that our materials appear to possibly be thermodynamically stable and photochemically active in water-methanol mixtures for extended durations cannot be overemphasized,” Hussein said. “Since our material is not costly to make, easy to scale up, and incredibly stable in water, its applications in various photocatalytic processes become worth exploring.”

For the future, the researchers now plan on studying more about the factors that contribute towards the operational part of this method so to achieve better efficiency levels. Apart from it, they are also working to find other additives, aside from methanol, to serve as “hole quenchers” chemicals that prevent the water-splitting reaction from reversing course. The team is also dabbling with other possible applications for HDNs. So far, they have considered using them in batteries, solar cells, water purification and medical treatments, but as we dig deeper into the stated material’s unique capabilities, this list can surely grow bigger over time.

“We are very excited about the possibilities of this discovery. The world needs massive new clean fuels that can supplant fossil fuels. We believe this material can unlock the potential of green hydrogen,” said Michel Barsoum, another researcher involved in the study.