Scientists Supercharge Promising Material to Catalyse Clean Hydrogen Production

— by vishal Sambyal

Indian scientists develop a breakthrough plasma-activated catalyst that dramatically boosts oxygen evolution reaction for clean hydrogen production.

Introduction: A Breakthrough for the Hydrogen Future

In a quiet laboratory on the outskirts of Bengaluru, a small team of researchers may have unlocked one of the most stubborn challenges in the race toward clean energy. Scientists at the Centre for Nano and Soft Matter Sciences (CeNS), an autonomous institute under the Department of Science and Technology (DST), have discovered a powerful new method to dramatically improve the performance of materials used to split water and produce hydrogen—often called the “fuel of the future.” Their innovation breathes new life into an essential class of materials known as coordination polymers (COPs), pushing India a step closer to cost-effective green hydrogen.

Context & Background: Why Hydrogen Needs Better Catalysts

Hydrogen has long been celebrated as one of the cleanest fuels available. When burned or used in fuel cells, it releases only water—no carbon, no soot, no greenhouse gases. But producing green hydrogen at scale remains a scientific and economic challenge.

At the centre of hydrogen production lies a decades-old process: electrolysis, the splitting of water into hydrogen and oxygen using electricity. Inside an electrolyser, two key reactions take place—the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and the oxygen evolution reaction (OER). While HER proceeds relatively easily, OER has remained a bottleneck because of its sluggish kinetics and high overpotential requirements. The result: slower reactions, higher energy consumption, and higher costs.

To make green hydrogen commercially viable, scientists worldwide have been searching for noble-metal-free, high-performance OER catalysts. Coordination polymers—networks made by binding metal ions with organic molecules—are among the most promising candidates. However, there’s a catch: COPs tend to be fully coordinated with water and solvent molecules, leaving very few active sites available for catalysis. This severely limits their usefulness in real-world electrolysers.

Main Developments: A Plasma-Powered Innovation

The CeNS team has now developed a breakthrough approach that transforms these limitations into opportunities. Their method uses argon plasma treatment to activate COPs without damaging their structural integrity.

Here’s how their innovation works:

1. Creating Coordinatively Unsaturated Metal Sites (CUMSs)

Under normal conditions, the metal centres in COPs are “occupied” by surrounding molecules, blocking catalytic activity. Plasma treatment removes these coordinated molecules, generating coordinatively unsaturated metal sites, which act as powerful catalytic hotspots.

2. Preserving the Bulk Structure

A major concern with treating delicate materials is structural damage. But advanced characterisation using single-crystal and powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) confirmed that the core polymer framework remained intact. The plasma process selectively modified only the surface-level sites.

3. Significant Boost in OER Performance

Untreated COPs displayed high onset potentials and slow OER activity in alkaline conditions. After argon plasma activation, however, both nickel- and cobalt-based COPs exhibited:

  • Lower onset potentials
  • Faster oxygen evolution
  • Higher catalytic efficiency
  • Improved stability

These improvements were validated through TEM, XPS, contact-angle measurements, and performance tests in electrochemical cells.

The research, published in ACS Applied Nano Materials, signals a meaningful leap in the science of sustainable hydrogen production.

Expert Insight: Why This Advancement Matters

Clean energy researchers have long emphasized that solving OER inefficiencies is as critical as improving electrolyser technology itself. According to scientists familiar with the field, the CeNS breakthrough stands out because it:

  • Uses non-noble metals, making it cost-effective
  • Modifies materials without complex chemical processes
  • Offers a scalable route for commercial electrolyser catalysts
  • Retains structural stability, essential for long-term performance

A senior catalyst researcher not affiliated with the study explained that “plasma activation has been explored in other materials, but applying it in a controlled way to coordination polymers while retaining their crystalline order opens new pathways for catalyst design.”

This sentiment reflects a growing global interest in low-cost, high-efficiency hydrogen pathways—especially as nations push toward net-zero targets.

Impact & Implications: A Boost for India’s Hydrogen Mission

The timing of this innovation aligns squarely with India’s National Green Hydrogen Mission, which aims to make the country a major producer and exporter of clean hydrogen by 2030.

By demonstrating that COPs can be supercharged without expensive metals like platinum or iridium, the CeNS method could:

  • Lower the cost of alkaline electrolysers
  • Accelerate industrial adoption of green hydrogen
  • Support India’s decarbonisation efforts in steel, fertilizer, and chemical sectors
  • Encourage domestic manufacturing of catalyst materials
  • Inspire further plasma-based modifications of other catalyst families

If scaled successfully, this approach could also be valuable for global hydrogen economies, contributing to more affordable renewable-powered electrolysis systems.

Conclusion: A Small Spark with Transformative Potential

The CeNS researchers have shown that a subtle, controlled burst of argon plasma can unlock powerful new capabilities in everyday materials. Their discovery transforms coordination polymers—previously limited by their fully coordinated structures—into robust, high-performance catalysts for clean hydrogen production.

As nations race to meet climate commitments, innovations like this underscore how scientific ingenuity can pave the path to greener, more sustainable energy systems. For India, this breakthrough signals not just scientific progress, but a growing contribution to the global clean-energy transition.

Disclaimer :This article is intended for informational and educational purposes. It summarizes available scientific findings without offering technical advice or endorsement of specific technologies.