Scientists Stretch Metal 1% to Rival Platinum Catalyst

Scientists just discovered that gently stretching certain affordable metals can make them nearly as good as platinum for producing clean hydrogen fuel, potentially unlocking a path to carbon-free energy that doesn't break the bank.

Researchers at Spain's IMDEA Materials Institute tested three common metal alloys: silver-indium, nickel-iron, and nickel-tin. They applied tiny amounts of strain, either stretching or compressing the materials by just 1%, to see if it would change how well they catalyze the hydrogen evolution reaction, the key process in splitting water to make green hydrogen.

The results stunned even the research team. One nickel-tin sample, stretched by just 1.26%, achieved 71% of platinum's catalytic efficiency. That's remarkable because platinum, while excellent at splitting water molecules, costs thousands of dollars per ounce and exists in limited supply worldwide.

Green hydrogen produced by splitting water with renewable electricity is considered essential for reaching global carbon-free energy goals. The problem has always been the catalyst needed to make the reaction efficient enough for industrial use. Platinum works beautifully but remains far too expensive for widespread adoption.

"There is a strong drive to discover affordable alternatives that can rival platinum-group metals in catalytic performance," the study published in ACS Catalysis emphasizes. Rather than inventing entirely new materials, the team focused on improving what already exists.

The technique, called elastic strain engineering, works by changing how catalyst surfaces bind to hydrogen atoms. Stretching worked best for the silver-indium alloy, while squeezing improved performance in the nickel-iron and nickel-tin combinations. The researchers selected these specific materials because they're abundant, affordable, non-toxic, and chemically stable in the alkaline environments used for water splitting.

Lead author Jorge Redondo explains that this work builds on earlier research showing similar improvements in gold thin films. "This time the group went further to develop serious intermetallic candidates to replace platinum catalysts," he notes.

The Ripple Effect

The discovery provides a blueprint that could accelerate the search for even better hydrogen catalysts. Machine learning studies have already identified hundreds of promising non-precious metal combinations, and this strain engineering approach could boost many of them to commercially viable performance levels.

Industrial hydrogen production facilities could potentially use these affordable catalysts to produce clean fuel at scales needed for transportation, manufacturing, and energy storage. The materials tested cost a fraction of platinum while avoiding the supply chain vulnerabilities of rare metals.

The research team achieved something rarely seen in materials science: they isolated and quantified exactly how elastic strain, without introducing defects or cracks, tunes a material's catalytic properties. That precision opens doors for systematically optimizing other catalyst systems.

Affordable green hydrogen just moved closer to reality, one tiny stretch at a time.