Analysis of Nickel Pincer Catalyst for Hydrogen Production

Abstract

Fuel cells have great potential as an alternative fuel source; however the hydrogen to power the cells is rather costly to produce. A study by Luca et. al were investigating a nickel pincer catalyst instead of platinum because it could be a cheaper alternative for hydrogen production. Density Functional Theory was used to propose a catalytic cycle that was then investigated experimentally with cyclic voltammetry. Cyclic Voltammetry was also used to analyze the effects different ligands had on the catalytic cycle. The nickel pincer catalyst had a 90-95% faradaic yield. The efficiency of the nickel catalyst was high because there was little energy that was lost as heat or byproducts. The researchers concluded that the nickel pincer catalyst had potential to reduce the cost of hydrogen fuel cells. There is a possibility that some hazardous byproducts were made and the byproducts should be studied further along with ways to reduce the byproducts.