Most methods for producing hydrogen and oxygen from water are energy-intensive, cost-prohibitive, and require use of expensive precious metals. Researchers from Missouri University of Science and Technology and National Kapodistrian University of Athens have shown that an electrocatalyst containing nickel and selenium is able to produce hydrogen and oxygen from water in a more efficient, less expensive manner than other routes.

Electrolytically refined nickel nodule.The technique uses the metal nickel -- described as an “earth-abundant” resource -- tetrahedrally coordinated to selenium in a complex that results in a more efficient approach to splitting water via electrolysis.

The same catalyst can drive both hydrogen and oxygen production, which the team says should improve the cost-efficiency of hydrogen generation.

The bifunctional electrocatalyst enables water electrolysis in alkaline solutions at a cell voltage of 1.54 V.