With a significant breakthrough in extending the lifespan of hydrogen fuel cells, researchers at UCLA have made a major step towards making clean, long-haul trucking a reality. Led by Professor Yu Huang, the team has developed a new catalyst design that can push projected fuel cell lifespans to 200,000 hours – nearly seven times the US Department of Energy’s target for 2050.

Hydrogen fuel cells have been considered a promising alternative to batteries for long-haul trucks due to their ability to be refueled as quickly as traditional gasoline. However, one major challenge has been the durability of the catalysts used in these systems. The new design, which embeds ultrafine platinum nanoparticles within protective graphene pockets, addresses this issue by preventing the leaching of alloying elements and maintaining high catalytic activity over time.

The implications of this breakthrough are significant. Heavy-duty trucks account for nearly a quarter of greenhouse gas automobile emissions, making them an ideal entry point for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell technology. By using hydrogen fuel cells in these vehicles, it’s possible to deliver the same performance as conventional batteries while being significantly lighter and requiring less energy to move.

The researchers’ innovative catalyst design holds great promise for the adoption of hydrogen-powered heavy-duty vehicles, which would be a crucial step towards reducing emissions and improving fuel efficiency in a sector that accounts for a substantial share of transportation energy use. The team’s findings build on their earlier success in developing a fuel cell catalyst for light-duty vehicles, demonstrating a lifespan of 15,000 hours.

The new study, published in Nature Nanotechnology, was led by UCLA Ph.D. graduates Zeyan Liu and Bosi Peng, both advised by Huang, whose research group specializes in developing nanoscale building blocks for complex materials, such as fuel cell catalysts. Xiaofeng Duan, a professor of chemistry and biochemistry at UCLA, and Xiaoqing Pan, a professor of materials science and engineering at UC Irvine, are also authors on the paper.

UCLA’s Technology Development Group has filed a patent on the technology, which has significant implications for the development of clean energy solutions in the transportation sector.

The world is on the cusp of a revolution in hydrogen fuel production. Researchers at Tohoku University have made a groundbreaking discovery that could finally bridge the gap between laboratory experiments and large-scale commercial production. The breakthrough involves a surface reconstruction strategy that utilizes non-noble metal-based cathodes to accelerate the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER).

The HER is a crucial process for creating clean hydrogen fuel, which has the potential to alleviate our climate change crisis. However, scaling up this reaction from lab to factory has been a daunting challenge due to its inefficiency and slowness. The researchers’ findings, published in Advanced Energy Materials on April 3, 2025, offer a promising solution.

By examining transition metal phosphides (TMPs), the research team discovered that adding fluorine (F) to the CoP lattice allows for P-vacancy sites to form on the surface. This leads to an increase in active sites, which speed up the HER reaction. The resulting F modified CoP cathode demonstrated exceptional performance, maintaining approximately 76 W for over 300 hours.

“This is a significant advancement in HER catalyst research,” says Heng Liu from the Advanced Institute for Materials Research (WPI-AIMR). “Our calculated cost of using this method is just $2.17 per kgH2-1 – mere cents over the current production target set for 2026.”

The researchers’ experiment extended beyond lab-scale testing, applying their findings to commercial-scale PEM electrolyzers. This breakthrough has far-reaching implications for the rational design of non-noble metal-based cathodes.

“We’re always thinking about the end goal, which is for research to make its way into everyday life,” says Liu. “This advancement brings us one step closer to designing more realistic options for commercial PEM application.”

Rewritten Article:

Scientists have made a groundbreaking discovery that could revolutionize the production of green hydrogen, a crucial component for a sustainable energy future. Researchers have found that a cage-structured material, previously unknown as an electrocatalyst, can outperform existing nickel-based catalysts in electrolytic hydrogen production. This breakthrough has significant implications for the chemical industry and our transition to renewable energy sources.

The study, published in Angewandte Chemie, investigates the suitability of clathrates – materials characterized by a complex three-dimensional cage structure – as catalysts for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in electrolysis. Clathrates have shown promise in various applications, such as thermoelectrics and superconductors, but their potential as electrocatalysts has remained unexplored until now.

Dr. Prashanth Menezes and his team at the Technical University of Munich synthesized Ba₈Ni₆Ge₄₀ clathrates, which they then tested as OER catalysts in aqueous electrolytes. The results were astonishing: the clathrate sample exceeded the efficiency of nickel-based catalysts at a current density of 550 mA cm⁻², a value commonly used in industrial electrolysis. Moreover, its stability was remarkable, with activity remaining high even after 10 days of continuous operation.

To understand why this material performed so well, the researchers employed a combination of experiments, including in situ X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) at BESSY II and basic structural characterization at the Freie and Technische Universität Berlin. Their analysis revealed that the clathrate particles undergo a structural transformation under an electric field: germanium and barium atoms dissolve out of the former three-dimensional framework, leaving behind highly porous, sponge-like nanolayers of nickel that offer maximum surface area.

“This transformation brings more and more catalytically active nickel centres into contact with the electrolyte,” says Dr. Niklas Hausmann from Menezes’ team. “We were actually surprised by how well these samples work as OER catalysts. We expect that we can observe similar results with other transition metal clathrates and that we have discovered a very interesting class of materials for electrocatalysts.”

This breakthrough has significant implications for the production of green hydrogen, which is seen as an essential building block for a sustainable energy future. With this new material, researchers may be able to develop more efficient and robust OER catalysts, enabling faster and more cost-effective production of green hydrogen.