Scientists have used a nanoparticles “megalibrary” to discover a low -cost and high -performance alternative to iridium, unlocking a faster path to affordable hydrogen energy.
The search for iridium alternatives
For years, scientists from around the world work to replace the iridium, a precious and extremely expensive metal that plays a key role in clean hydrogen fuel production.
Recently, the researchers managed to identify a substitute using a revolutionary tool, and they did it in a single afternoon.
Developed at Northwest UniversityThe tool is known as a megalibrary. Described as the world’s first world nanomateriau “Data Factory”, only one megalibrary contains millions of carefully designed nanoparticles arranged on a chip no larger than a finger.
In collaboration with the Toyota Research Institute (TRI), the North-West team used this platform to identify promising catalysts for the generation of hydrogen. After identifying a candidate, they then put it on the scale and proved that the material could work inside a real device, all in a short time.
A megalibrary for the discovery of materials
The Megalibrary has enabled scientists to test countless combinations of four abundant metals, inexpensive and already known for their catalytic properties. From this massive screening effort, the researchers discovered an entirely new material. In laboratory tests, it has not only equaled, but, in some cases, has surpassed the trade catalysts based on iridium, while costing only a fraction of the price.
The implications go far beyond the drop in the price of green hydrogen. Success also highlights the potential of the Megalibrary approach itself, which could revolutionize how new materials are discovered through a wide range of domains.
The study was published on August 19 in the Journal of the American Chemical Society (JACS).
A new way to find the best materials
“We have undoubtedly triggered the most powerful synthetic tool in the world, which makes it possible to search for the enormous number of combinations available for chemists and scientists of materials to find materials that matter,” said Chad A. Mirkin of Northwestern, the main author of the study and the main inventor of the Megalibrary platform. “In this particular project, we have channeled this capacity towards a major problem with which the energy sector faces.
Pioneer of nanotechnology, Mirkin is the chemistry teacher at George B. Rathmann at the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences in Northwestern; Professor of chemical and biological engineering, biomedical engineering and materials and materials of materials at the McCormick School of Engineering; and Executive Director of the International Institute of Nanotechnology. Mirkin co-directed work with Ted Sargent, Lynn Hopton Davis and Greg Davis chemistry professor at Weinberg, professor of electrical and computer engineering at McCormick and executive director of Paula M. Triens for sustainability and energy.
Hydrogen iridium problem
While the world is moving away from fossil fuels and decarbonization, affordable green hydrogen has become a critical piece of the puzzle. To produce clean hydrogen energy, scientists have turned to fractionation of water, a process that uses electricity to divide water molecules into their two constitutive components – hydrogen and oxygen.
The oxygen part of this reaction, called oxygen evolution reaction (OER), is however difficult and ineffective. The OER is more effective when scientists use Iridium -based catalysts, which have significant drawbacks. Iridium is rare, expensive and often obtained as a sub-product of the platinum exploitation. More value than gold, iridium costs nearly $ 5,000 per ounce.
“There is not enough iridium in the world to meet all of our planned needs,” said Sargent. “While we are thinking of dividing water to generate other forms of energy, there is not enough iridium from a purely supply point of view.”
An army of nanoparticles on a chip
Mirkin, who presented the megalibraires in 2016, decided with Sargent that finding new candidates to replace Iridium was a perfect application for its revolutionary tool. Although the discovery of materials is traditionally a slow and intimidating task filled with tests and errors, the megalibraries allow scientists to locate optimal compositions at vertiginous speeds.
Each megalibrary is created with paintings of hundreds of thousands of tiny pyramid -shaped advice to print individual “points” on a surface. Each point contains an intentionally designed metal salts mixture. When heated, metal salts are reduced to form unique nanoparticles, each with a specific composition and size.
“You can consider each tip as a small person in a small laboratory,” said Mirkin. “Instead of having a small person to do a structure at a time, you have millions of people. So, you mainly have an army of researchers full of researchers on a chip. ”
The winning catalyst emerges
In the new study, the chip contained 156 million particles, each made from different combinations of ruthenium, cobalt, manganese and chrome. A robotic scanner then evaluated how the most promising particles could make a REL. Based on these tests, Mirkin and his team have selected the best efficient candidates to undergo other laboratory tests.
Finally, a composition stood out: a precise combination of the four metals (Ru52Co33Mn9Crossing6 oxide). Multi-metal catalysts are known to cause synergistic effects that can make them more active than unique metal catalysts.
“Our catalyst has in fact a little higher activity than iridium and excellent stability,” said Mirkin. “It is rare because often ruthenium is less stable. But the other elements of the composition stabilize ruthenium.”
Prove advantages of stability and cost
The ability to filter particles for their ultimate performance is a new major innovation. “For the first time, we were not only able to quickly detect the catalysts, but we saw the best perform well in a framework on a scale,” said Joseph Montoya, principal sorting researcher and co-author of the study.
In long -term tests, the new catalyst worked for more than 1,000 hours with high efficiency and excellent stability in a hard acid environment. It is also considerably cheaper than iridium – about a sixth of the cost.
“There is a lot of work to do to make this commercially viable, but it is very exciting that we can so quickly identify promising catalysts – not only on a laboratory scale but for devices,” said Montoya.
Beyond hydrogen: overview
By generating sets of data of high -quality massive materials artificial intelligence (Ai) and automatic learning To design the next generation of new materials. Northwestern, TRI and Mattiq, a derivation company from the North West, have already developed automatic learning algorithms to pass through megalibrares at record speeds.
Mirkin says this is only the beginning. With AI, the approach could evolve beyond the catalysts to revolutionize the discovery of materials for almost all technologies, such as batteries, biomedical devices and advanced optical components.
“We are going to look for all kinds of materials for batteries, fusion and even more,” he said. “The world does not use the best materials for its needs. People found the best materials at some point, given the tools available to them. The problem is that we now have a huge infrastructure built around these materials, and we are stuck with them. We want to reverse this advantage. It’s time to really find the best materials for all needs – without compromise. ”
Reference: “Acceleration of the rhythm of the reaction of the oxygen reaction catalyst discovery through megalibrares” by Jin Huang, Zhe Wang, Jiashun Liang, Xiao-Yan Li, Jacob Pietryga, Zihao Ye, Peter T. Smith, Alp Kulaksizoglu, Connor R. McCormick, Jaerim Steven B. Torrisi, Joseph H. Montoya, Gang Wu, Edward H. Sargent and Chad A. Mirkin, August 19, 2025, Journal of the American Chemical Society.
DOI: 10.1021 / jacs. 5C08326
The study was supported by the Toyota Research Institute, Mattiq and the Army Research Office, a management of the Research Laboratory of the US Army Development Development Army (W911NF-23-1-0285). This publication was made possible with the support of the bioindustrial manufacturing and design ecosystem (biomade); The content expressed here is that of the authors and does not necessarily reflect the views of the biomade.
This material is based on research sponsored by the Air Force under the FA8650-21-2028 chord number. The US government is authorized to reproduce and distribute reprints for government purposes despite any copyright rating.
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