• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Departments
    • Aerospace Engineering
    • Bioengineering
    • Civil and Environmental Engineering
    • Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences
    • Engineering Science
    • Industrial Engineering and Operations Research
    • Materials Science and Engineering
    • Mechanical Engineering
    • Nuclear Engineering
  • News
    • Berkeley Engineer magazine
    • Social media
    • News videos
    • News digest (email)
    • Press kit
  • Events
    • Events calendar
    • Homecoming
    • Cal Day
    • Commencement
    • View from the Top
    • Kuh Lecture Series
    • Minner Lecture
  • College directory
  • For staff & faculty
Berkeley Engineering

Educating leaders. Creating knowledge. Serving society.

  • About
    • Facts & figures
    • Rankings
    • Mission & values
    • Equity & inclusion
    • Voices of Berkeley Engineering
    • Leadership team
    • Milestones
    • Facilities
    • Maps
  • Admissions
    • Undergraduate admissions
    • Graduate admissions
    • Visit
    • Maps
    • Admissions events
    • K-12 outreach
  • Academics
    • Undergraduate programs
    • Majors & minors
    • Undergraduate Guide
    • Graduate programs
    • Graduate Guide
    • Innovation & entrepreneurship
    • Kresge Engineering Library
    • International programs
    • Executive education
  • Students
    • Advising & counseling
    • Programs
    • Academic support
    • Student life
    • Wellness & inclusion
    • Undergraduate Guide
    • Degree requirements
    • Forms & petitions
    • Resources
  • Research & faculty
    • Centers & institutes
    • Undergrad research
    • Faculty
  • Connect
    • Alumni
    • Industry
    • Give
    • Stay in touch
Home > News > New hydrogen fuel catalyst

New hydrogen fuel catalyst

Spring 2019 cover: Shifting Gears
May 1, 2019
This article appeared in Berkeley Engineer magazine, Spring 2019

A powerful new hydrogen fuel catalyst developed by Berkeley engineers relies on a surprising ingredient: gelatin, the same material that makes Jell-O desserts jiggle. Composed of nanometer-thin sheets of metal carbide, this catalyst works just as efficiently as platinum to generate hydrogen fuel from water, but at a much lower cost than the rare and expensive metal. To create the catalyst, the researchers, led by mechanical engineering professor Liwei Lin, simply mixed water, gelatin and a metal ion — either molybdenum, tungsten or cobalt — and then let the mixture dry. As the gelatin dried, it self-assembled into flat layers of the metal ion. When the mixture was heated to 600 degrees Celsius, the metal ion reacted with the carbon atoms in the gelatin, forming large sheets of metal carbide. The unreacted gelatin burned away. The researchers say this new catalyst is also a greener way of generating hydrogen than the widespread method of using water gas, which produces carbon dioxide as a byproduct. And because the process is relatively simple, it could be easily scaled up to produce large quantities of the catalyst, making this a potential game changer for hydrogen fuel generation in the future.

  • Read more: Researchers use jiggly Jell-O to make powerful new hydrogen fuel catalyst
Topics: Energy, Mechanical engineering, Research
  • Contact
  • Give
  • Privacy
  • UC Berkeley
  • Accessibility
  • Nondiscrimination
  • instagram
  • twitter
  • linkedin
  • facebook
  • youtube
© 2023 UC Regents