Simultaneous Achievements from North and South China's Academic Powerhouses

Peking University and Fudan University, two of China's premier academic institutions, have simultaneously published groundbreaking research in the prestigious journal Science, announcing major advancements in hydrogen production catalysis.

Fudan University's Biomimetic Approach to Cost Reduction

On February 14, a research team led by Professor Zhang Bo from Fudan University's Department of Polymer Science and founder of Shanghai Hydrogen New Energy Technology Co., Ltd. published their breakthrough findings in Science, drawing global attention. The team innovatively designed an embedded carrier-type catalyst inspired by the structure of traditional Chinese sesame balls. By embedding "sesame seeds" (iridium oxide) into a "glutinous rice ball" (carrier), they dramatically reduced the amount of precious metal iridium required.

This innovation slashed raw material costs from 1,300 yuan per gram to a new industry low while simultaneously improving energy efficiency by 65%. The PEM water electrolysis hydrogen production technology, developed over three years, provides substantial technical support for sustainable green hydrogen energy development through its creative catalyst design approach, significantly enhancing hydrogen production efficiency and stability.

Peking University's Dual Publication Achievement

Professor Martin's team at Peking University and collaborators, focusing on hydrogen production technology, published two significant research papers in Nature and Science on February 13 and 14, 2025, respectively. This "double publication" scientific team has brought breakthrough progress to the clean energy field.

Concentrating on catalyst stability and building upon Professor Martin's previous research in methanol and water reforming for hydrogen production, the team innovatively introduced rare earth elements to modify catalysts. They developed a novel, universally applicable high-activity hydrogen production catalyst stabilization strategy.

The research revealed that when rare earth elements are present on the catalyst surface and protect the catalyst's "non-interface active sites," the catalyst's lifespan increases dramatically. Specifically, each platinum atom in the catalyst can produce 15 million hydrogen molecules—a "turnover number" that exceeds the previous highest record by an entire order of magnitude. This historic breakthrough offers a completely new approach for efficient and stable hydrogen production technology.

Addressing Industry Pain Points, Becoming the Core Lever for a Trillion-Yuan Market

Breaking Through Critical Industry Barriers

Traditional hydrogen production technologies largely rely on rare precious metals such as iridium as catalysts. Iridium resources are extremely scarce globally, resulting in persistently high prices and making hydrogen production costs difficult to reduce long-term. These high costs place green hydrogen at a disadvantage when competing with traditional fossil fuels, hindering large-scale application and severely limiting the development speed and scale of the green hydrogen industry.

Just as the industry's development had reached a bottleneck, Shanghai Hydrogen penetrated through layers of uncertainty with its innovative solution, directly addressing the industry's pain points:

· High Efficiency and Safety: PEM water electrolysis technology enables rapid 2-minute startup and shutdown, adapting well to the fluctuations of renewable energy sources.

· Economic Viability: Catalyst costs have been reduced to a new industry low, bringing green hydrogen production costs close to those of traditional energy sources.

· Wide Application: PEM water electrolysis hydrogen production technology connects upstream with large-scale cross-seasonal energy storage from wind and solar power generation, and downstream with deep decarbonization across the entire industrial system, offering extremely broad prospects.

According to International Energy Agency predictions, global green hydrogen demand will exceed 100 million tons by 2050. In China, as "dual carbon" goals are further implemented, the hydrogen energy industry is experiencing unprecedented development opportunities, with the potential to exceed a trillion-yuan market scale.

In this trillion-level market feast, Shanghai Hydrogen, with its leading technological breakthrough, will undoubtedly become the core lever to unlock this enormous market, leading the green hydrogen industry toward new heights of brilliance.