New Materials Could Improve Energy Storage in Fuel Cells & Lithium-Air Batteries
MIT researchers have found that a new family of materials provides the best-ever performance in a reaction called oxygen evolution - a key requirement for energy storage and delivery systems like advanced fuel cells and lithium-air batteries. The new catalyst materials, called double perovskites, promote oxygen evolution in an electrochemical water-splitting reaction, which breaks water molecules into oxygen and hydrogen. This video shows the strong activity of the new catalyst material (the dark circle in the center) in promoting the oxygen evolution reaction when submerged in water, as revealed by the bubbles of oxygen forming on its surface.