Purdue researchers use rhenium based catalyst to produce hydrogen

Researchers at Purdue have used a rhenium based catalyst to produce hydrogen gas from water. Costs associated with the process are still high but high volume production could make the process economically feasible.

We have discovered a catalyst that can produce ready quantities of hydrogen without the need for extreme cold temperatures or high pressures, which are often required in other production and storage methods,” remarks Mahdi Abu-Omar of Purdue University. The compound he and his colleagues used is a so-called coordination complex based on the metal rhenium.