H2O - H2 + O2

ABSTRACT: 

We need clean energy and clean water; there is no denying that. H2 and O2 based energy systems are hailed to be clean. To wit; the H2 and O2 when combined will release energy and water as well. A process like that can provide clean energy and water to all (the motto!). There are however several key obstacles to cross before such a system can be realized. The biggest one, undoubtedly, is developing catalysts that are capable of facilitating the two vital half reactions i.e. H+ + e-  ½ H2 and H2O - 2e-  ½ O2 + 2H+.  The catalysts are required to be 1) Cheap, 2) efficient and should work unabated under most daunting circumstances (chemically speaking!). At IACS our group has been heavily invested in electrochemical water splitting in to its elements H2 and O2 adhering to these criteria. Using a combination of synthesis (tireless fun), self assembly (organized fun), spectroscopy (colorful fun) and electronic structure function correlations (quantized fun) our group has been successful in producing some remarkable catalysts for the purpose. These catalyst, designed using the principles laid out in Nature, are derived from cheap materials (mostly) and can produce H2 and O2 from water using electrical energy (socket and solar) at very high rates. While these may not generate trillion dollar business (yet!), the journey so far has been very encouraging and humbling. The talk will highlight the milestones reached along with a healthy serving of chemical details that were necessary to get there.