New catalyst strategy boosts key battery and fuel-cell reaction from 12% to 52%

South Korean researchers found a new catalyst strategy that boosts oxygen reduction efficiency by shaping the local electric field around the catalyst.

By placing cations near the catalyst, they increased the desired reaction pathway from about 12% to 52% without changing the catalyst’s structure.

The approach, reported by POSTECH and Seoul National University in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, could improve fuel cells and metal-air batteries.

It may cut energy loss and catalyst development costs while offering a new way to tune clean-energy reactions.