Schematic illustration of the synthesis process of the copper–cobalt oxide catalyst developed by the research team, along with a comparison of electrochemical glycerol conversion performance. Credit: Korea Institute of Materials Science (KIMS)

A research team has developed a high-efficiency electrochemical system that simultaneously produces hydrogen and value-added chemicals using glycerol, a low-cost, abundant byproduct of biodiesel production. The findings are published in Joule .

The study is significant in that it replaces the anodic oxygen evolution reaction (OER), a key bottleneck in conventional water electrolysis, thereby reducing the overall cell voltage and improving energy efficiency and expanding the scope of electrochemical conversion technologies.

Hydrogen is gaining attention as a key energy source in the carbon-neutral era, and various water electrolysis technologies have been actively developed for its eco-friendly production.…