Dr Aaron Marshall, a researcher in the Institute of Technology and Engineering at the University’s Palmerston North campus, has been awarded $260,000 to carry out the three-year study.

Dr Marshall’s research has the potential to place New Zealand as a world-leader in the production of nano-materials used in hydrogen energy technology.

His aim is to prepare nano-sized (dimensions of around 100,000 times smaller than the thickness of a human hair) particles for use inside water electrolysers. Water electrolysers make hydrogen and oxygen by splitting water molecules, which is normally a slow process requiring large amounts of power. These nano-sized particles can speed up this process and reduce the amount of power required. Dr Marshall says the process is the reverse of that used in fuel cells, with water and electricity used in the cell to produce hydrogen gas.

“Natural gas is the most common source of hydrogen used in fuel cells, which of course is not sustainable. Water electrolysis is a clean and simple way to produce hydrogen gas from electricity,” he says.

The electrolysers he is developing will compete in supplying hydrogen gas for industry and automotive fuel cell applications. If hydrogen is produced in electrolysers using electricity from renewable sources, the gas is a completely clean and renewable energy carrier with the potential to replace oil as a main fuel source.

Dr Marshall developed chemical processes to produce nano-sized particles as a PhD student at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Norway. In May 2006 he was awarded the Exxon Mobil Prize for his doctoral research and returned to Massey to take up a post-doctoral position.