H2Pro (Israel)

Green hydrogen produced by splitting water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen using electricity from renewable energy sources is essential to reduce CO2 emissions, especially in hard-to-abate industrial sectors such as steelmaking and ammonia production. It is a critical component in the energy transition to fight climate change. The present technologies for green hydrogen production are alkaline and polymer electrolyte membrane water electrolysis. One thing in common to these technologies is the coupling between the hydrogen and oxygen evolution reactions (HER and OER, respectively), where both reactions occur concurrently in the same electrolytic cell. Therefore, a membrane or diaphragm divides the cell into two compartments to avoid hazardous H2/O2 mixing. This membrane architecture complicates the electrolyzers construction by adding gaskets and compression sealing to prevent H2/O2 crossover. This adds substantial costs and limits operation at high pressures and low-purity water. In addition, substantial energy losses, mostly due to the difficult OER, increase the cost of energy in this energy intensive technology. These drawbacks give rise to high cost of green hydrogen.To overcome these challenges, we developed alternative processes that decouple the generation of hydrogen and oxygen into two consecutive stages (time separation),1 or two cells (space separation),2 avoiding the need for membrane and sealing. In addition, we divided the OER, a difficult electrochemical reaction that requires four electrons and protons to generate an oxygen molecule on a single atomic reaction site, into two sub-reactions that occur on four sites, thereby enabling facile reactions and reducing the energy losses in water electrolysis. An ultrahigh efficiency of nearly 99% was demonstrated at lab scale,2 and we expect reaching above 90% at system scale. To bring this breakthrough process to reality we established H2Pro, an Israeli startup company that aims to produce green hydrogen at $1/kg by the end of this decade, based on our invention.3 Landman et al., Photoelectrochemical water splitting in separate oxygen and hydrogen cells, Nature Materials 16, 646–651 (2017).Dotan et al., Decoupled hydrogen and oxygen evolution by a two-step electrochemical – chemical cycle for efficient overall water splitting, Nature Energy 4, 786–795 (2019).Rothschild et al., Methods and system for hydrogen production by water electrolysis, United States Patent No. 2020/0040467 A1 (2020).

Abstract One of the biggest obstacles to the dissemination of fuel cells is their cost, a large part of which is due to platinum (Pt) electrocatalysts. Complete removal of Pt is a difficult if not impossible task for proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEM‐FCs). The anion exchange membrane fuel cell (AEM‐FC) has long been proposed as a solution as non‐Pt metals may be employed. Despite this, few examples of Pt‐free AEM‐FCs have been demonstrated with modest power output. The main obstacle preventing the realization of a high power density Pt‐free AEM‐FC is sluggish hydrogen oxidation (HOR) kinetics of the anode catalyst. Here we describe a Pt‐free AEM‐FC that employs a mixed carbon‐CeO2 supported palladium (Pd) anode catalyst that exhibits enhanced kinetics for the HOR. AEM‐FC tests run on dry H2 and pure air show peak power densities of more than 500 mW cm−2.

Purpose of the study: The novel combination of 0.1% sodium hyaluronate (HA) and 5.0% polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) into one eyedrop was investigated to test the hypothesis of its increased relief of dry eye syndrome (DES). Materials and methods: We evaluated HA and PVP, either alone, or in combination, by utilizing 16 rabbits, where their right eyes received one or two different eyedrops, and their left eyes, as controls, received none. The DES replica in rabbits was induced by 0.1% benzalkonium chloride (BAC) eyedrops. BAC was instilled into the right eyes of all rabbits, which were divided into four groups of four. In Group 1 M, the rabbits received only BAC. A second eyedrop given to the right eyes of Group 2 M was HA, of Group 3 M was PVP, and of Group 4 M was the combination of both HA and PVP. All eyes were followed clinically for 14 d, and thereafter, examined histopathologically. Results: Clinically, the HA+PVP combination yielded the least perilimbal conjunctival erythema (p < 0.05), and the least corneal epithelial fluorescein staining (p < 0.001) compared to each treatment alone. Histopathologically, all four rabbits' right eyes in the combination group 4 M displayed the greatest preservation of the corneal epithelium (p < 0.001) and of the perilimbal conjunctival goblet cell density (p < 0.001). Conclusions: This unique combination of both HA and PVP into one eyedrop, was more potent than either treatment alone in protecting the ocular surface. A preparation, containing both HA and PVP may become useful for DES patients.