Solar hydrogen can now be produced efficiently without the scarce metal platinum

This great, hydrogen is used industrialy in massive quantities, but the current method to get it is very expensive as it requires "cracking" natural gas or other petro fuels. Hydrolising water will allow scaled production on site, that can be powered from availible excess renewable energy. For countrys that have abu dent solar potential, but arrid coastal shores, doing solar distilation for water, hydrogen generation for agricultural/industrial products, and energy storage can become the foundation for economic development that scales as far as population demands requires. Good use can be put to the brines left over from distilation, sodium, and other metals can be recoverd. Thinking about how sodium reacts with water, there is probably a reasonable way to use that as an stationary industrial energy source. All of the current methods of hydrogen generation and use are outdated, useing century old techniques, with the ineficiencys typical of early industrial methods, ie: lots of money to be made!

ScholarlyArticle:

"Highly Efficient Platinum-Free Photocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution From Low-cost Conjugated Polymer Nanoparticles" (2025) https://advanced.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/adma.20... :

> Abstract: While the interest in hydrogen photocatalysis from organic semiconductors is rapidly growing, there is a necessity to achieve hydrogen production without platinum (Pt), considering its price, availability and toxicity. In this work, this is demonstrated that high hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) efficiencies can be achieved without the use of Pt. A series of low-cost conjugated polymers are designed around the dibenzothiophene-S,S-sulfoxide (BTSO) unit, and self-assembled as nanoparticles in water via the nanoprecipitation technique. This is highlighted that how side chain engineering, nanoparticle morphology and pH influence the hydrogen evolution rate. Optoelectronic properties are improved through a Donor-Acceptor structure, resulting in an unprecedented hydrogen evolution reaction rate of 209 mmol g−1 h−1 in the absence of Pt. A clear correlation between high efficiencies and number of BTSO units within the polymer backbone can be established. The design rules pioneer the design of future organic materials is presented for a cost-efficient and sustainable hydrogen photocatalysis.

But it cannot be transported or stored in any reasonable way. Hydrogen is a dead-end fake green fuel pushed by petroleum companies because the cheapest and easiest way to make it is from petroleum so adopting it would mean there’s always a market for oil.

Hopefully the ubiquity means we can have on-site production and usage without dealing with fussy storage and transportation.