Phys.org  October 21, 2024 One of the biggest challenges in electrochemical water splitting is oxygen evolution reaction (OER), a sluggish reaction in which water molecules are broken down into oxygen and hydrogen. The OER can be accelerated by using noble metal catalysts; however, these metals are expensive and scarce, and speeding up the reaction requires additional energy. An international team of researchers (USA – Perdue University, China, Taiwan, Germany) has developed a new method using iridium coordinated with dimethylimidazole (MI) as a reaction accelerator for electrochemical splitting of water which accelerated the production of hydrogen and made it more sustainable. […]