New technology to generate green hydrogen

Green hydrogen may power the society of the future, taking over the role of fossil fuels. This week in Nature, Professor Emiliano Cortés, from the Faculty of Physics at LMU, discusses a novel and sustainable approach that uses light and earth-abundant materials for producing hydrogen. This new technology, based on “plasmonic” catalysis may open the route for producing chemicals in a cleaner and zero-carbon emission manner.

Indeed, the chemical industry is the largest energy consumer of all industrial sectors and among the top three direct producers of carbon dioxide emissions. Sustainable methods for producing everyday-needed chemicals or green fuels is one of the biggest energy-challenges for our near future. In his article Cortés explains an emerging approach that uses LEDs light instead of heat to generate hydrogen.

Prof. Cortés belongs to the cluster of excellence e-conversion for exploring the fundamentals of energy conversion processes, the center for nanoscience (CeNS) and the Bavarian initiative for solar technologies (SolTech). He directs the group of Nanomaterials for Energy at the Nanoinstitute Munich, LMU.

Emiliano Cortés. Light-activated catalysts point the way to sustainable chemistry. Nature, 2023.