CAS: Enhanced Electrocatalytic Hydrogen Production with Polymer-Supported [2Fe-2S] Clusters

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With support from the Chemical Catalysis Program of the Division of Chemistry at the National Science Foundation, the research team headed by Professors Dennis Lichtenberger, Jeffrey Pyun, and Richard Glass at the University of Arizona are developing new approaches for producing hydrogen gas from water using electricity. This research is relevant to the U.S. economy because hydrogen gas is used to make many industrial products, including fertilizers and fuels. The team is developing catalysts to speed up the product formation and notably, the catalysts made by this team are made of earth-abundant iron and sulfur. Similar iron-sulfur catalysts are found in nature, but they are fragile. The new catalysts, after being modified with special polymers, are rugged. The goal of this research is to learn how the polymer enhances the catalyst reactivity and to optimize the system's performance so more fuel is produced in less time. One specific project involves changing the structure of the polymer and the way it is attached to the catalyst. This award also provides students with hands-on experience in the areas of catalysis and energy science. Once engaged in a collaborative project, the students are exposed to a variety of disciplines and technical cultures, which makes them better leaders. An integral part of the project is outreach to the community with emphasis on women in STEM and K-12 students and teachers. With support from the Chemical Catalysis (CAT) Program in NSF's Division of Chemistry, the research team headed by Professors Dennis Lichtenberger, Jeffrey Pyun, and Richard Glass at The University of Arizona are developing new catalysts for the production of hydrogen (H2). The research promises to contribute to a clean and sustainable energy economy using intermittent energy sources such as solar and wind as the electricity generated from these sources can be directly stored in the two-electron chemical bond of H2. This same energy can be easily recovered by burning the hydrogen or by converting the energy back to electricity with a fuel cell, both of which cycle the hydrogen back to water. Typically, the most effective materials for converting electricity and water to hydrogen are platinum and other expensive metals that are too rare to employ on a large scale for a broad energy economy. Nature has solved this problem with hydrogenase enzymes, which feature iron sulfides embedded in the structure of the enzyme to efficiently produce hydrogen. With this inspiration from nature, the first-generation system of iron and sulfur embedded in a metallopolymer created by the team at the University of Arizona produces hydrogen 25 times faster than the natural enzyme and approaches platinum in efficiency. The research prepares students for the technical workforce that will support the U.S. economy.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.