By Asmahanim Amir
Pix Shahiddan Saidi

BANGI, 22 September 2019 – A research paper about reducing the cost of producing hydrogen for industry usage has made Dr. Abdul Rahman Mohmad from UKM the first local academia to have an article published in one of the world’s leading journal in physical chemistry and applied physics, Nature Materials.

He is also one of the two main authors in a paper entitled “Ultra High-current-density niobium disulphide catalysts for hydrogen evolution”. He said the research is expected to have a major impact on the green energy industry for both local and abroad due to its potential to cut the cost.

“Hydrogen is the main agent in various industrial process such as refining industry, chemical industry, food processing, electronics sectors among others. Most of hydrogen produces natural gas, but we are able to find a more sustainable way through the electrolysis process. This too may lead to the cost reductive of producing hydrogen related products,” he said.

“What makes the research successful is that the use of low cost materials which is 100 times more competitive as compared to platinum,” he added.
The publication of this paper is a research collaboration with world’s leading universities in the United States, United Kingdom, France, China and Korea which began in 2016.