Through its work, the team identified a particular alloy, iridium oxide mixed with niobium (Ir60Nb40Ox) that behaves nearly as stably as pure iridium, but requires 40 percent less of the precious metal. While the team knows that much more work needs to be done to identify other materials that might be suitable as an electrocatalyst, it feels confident that the two-pronged approach of spectroscopic experiments and large-scale simulations is the ideal method for moving the research forward.
Whether scientists wind up finding a cheaper, more readily available replacement for iridium or developing alloys that can use iridium in sparing amounts, the promise of clean energy storage motivates the team to keep searching.
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