Prof. Avner Rothschild receives ERC Advanced Grant
The European Research Council grant of just under €3 million will fund developing an innovative way of producing green hydrogen
Professor Avner Rothschild from the faculty of Material Science and Engineering at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology was awarded the European Research Council (ERC) Advanced Grant, of about €3 million. The ERC Advanced Grant is given to the best proposals by researchers who have a track-record of significant research achievements in the last 10 years.
Prof. Avner Rothschild
Prof. Rothschild will develop a transformative water electrolysis process (splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen) for green hydrogen production. The project aims for high efficiency in a process that supports membraneless electrolysis with minimal energy losses, going far beyond other electrolysis processes. These goals will be achieved by dividing the oxygen evolution reaction into two sub-reactions, carried out in different cells. It is this separation that would eliminate the necessity of a membrane, making the process safer, as well as more cost- and energy-efficient.
The development of the innovative process poses challenges, addressing which requires multidisciplinary research in materials science, electrochemistry, catalysis, and process engineering. The preliminary proof of concept was he Master Thesis research of Ilya Slobodkin (2022, summa cum laude), working together with Dr. Elena Davydova, from Prof. Rothschild’s group.
Progress in this field will lead the way to a competitive solution for green hydrogen production to fight global warming and advance the science of catalysts and electrodes for advanced water electrolysis and related technologies.