IIT Gandhinagar Researchers Identify New Carbon Material That Could Make Green Hydrogen Production More Affordable

Why is IIT Gandhinagar's Green Hydrogen Research in News?

Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar have investigated a two-dimensional carbon material that could contribute to the development of affordable catalysts for hydrogen production.

The Ministry of Education highlighted the research on 16 September 2026. The findings were published in the scientific journal npj 2D Materials and Applications.

The study is important because conventional hydrogen-production catalysts may depend on expensive and relatively scarce metals such as platinum and iridium.

What Material Did the Researchers Study?

The researchers studied Monolayer Amorphous Carbon, commonly abbreviated as MAC.

It is a two-dimensional carbon material approximately one atom thick. Unlike graphene, which has a regular arrangement of carbon atoms, MAC lacks long-range structural order.

This irregular arrangement creates different atomic environments across its surface.

What is Amorphous Carbon?

An amorphous material lacks the long-range periodic atomic arrangement associated with a crystalline material.

In the case of monolayer amorphous carbon, carbon atoms form an irregular network containing different ring arrangements and bond configurations.

The study found that some of these irregularities may be useful for hydrogen adsorption.

Difference Between Graphene and MAC

Graphene is a two-dimensional material in which carbon atoms are arranged in a regular hexagonal lattice.

Monolayer amorphous carbon does not maintain this uniform arrangement. Its structure can contain five-membered, six-membered and seven-membered carbon rings.

These differences create a wider variety of local environments where hydrogen may interact with the surface.

What is Green Hydrogen?

Green hydrogen is generally produced by splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen using electricity generated from renewable energy sources.

Solar and wind power are examples of renewable electricity sources that can be used for this purpose.

Hydrogen produced through such pathways may help reduce emissions in sectors where direct electrification is difficult.

What is Electrolysis?

Electrolysis is the use of electrical energy to drive a chemical reaction.

During water electrolysis, water is separated into hydrogen and oxygen.

The overall chemical reaction is: 2H2O → 2H2 + O2.

The process requires electricity and suitable electrochemical components, including catalysts that help reactions proceed efficiently.

What is a Catalyst?

A catalyst increases the rate of a chemical reaction by providing a more favourable reaction pathway without being consumed in the overall reaction.

In electrochemical hydrogen production, catalysts help the hydrogen evolution reaction proceed efficiently.

Why Are Platinum and Iridium Important?

Platinum and iridium are valuable materials used in certain electrochemical technologies because of their catalytic properties.

However, their scarcity and cost can create challenges for the large-scale deployment of some hydrogen-production systems.

Researchers are therefore investigating alternative materials that could reduce dependence on expensive metals.

Why Can Structural Disorder Be Useful?

Structural defects are often considered undesirable in engineering materials. However, their effects depend on the intended application.

In catalysis, irregular atomic arrangements can create sites with different chemical properties.

The IIT Gandhinagar study found that greater bond distortion, irregular bond angles and surface ripples were associated with more favourable hydrogen adsorption at certain locations.

What is Hydrogen Adsorption?

Adsorption is the accumulation of atoms or molecules on the surface of a material.

It differs from absorption, in which a substance enters the bulk of another material.

For hydrogen production, the interaction between hydrogen and the catalyst surface must be appropriately balanced.

The Hydrogen Binding Problem

If hydrogen binds too strongly to a catalyst, releasing hydrogen can become difficult.

If the interaction is too weak, the reaction may not proceed efficiently.

Researchers therefore look for catalytic sites with a suitable balance between hydrogen attachment and release.

Gibbs Free Energy of Hydrogen Adsorption

The study examined the Gibbs free energy of hydrogen adsorption, represented as ΔGH.

A value close to zero is generally desirable for the hydrogen evolution reaction because it indicates a more balanced interaction between hydrogen and the catalyst surface.

Important Research Findings

The researchers calculated a ΔGH value of approximately +1.73 electronvolts for pristine graphene.

For β-graphyne, the most favourable crystalline carbon material examined in the comparison, the value was approximately +0.34 electronvolts.

For the investigated MAC surface, predicted values ranged from approximately −0.91 to +1.70 electronvolts.

About 15% of the examined MAC sites had predicted values below +0.25 electronvolts, suggesting potentially useful catalytic behaviour.

How Many Sites Were Examined?

The researchers examined approximately 1,183 potential hydrogen adsorption sites.

Studying such a large number of atomic locations through high-accuracy calculations alone would have required substantial computational resources.

Role of Artificial Intelligence

The research combined Density Functional Theory calculations with a machine-learned interatomic potential called MACE.

The machine-learning model helped researchers examine a larger number of possible sites than would have been practical using the more computationally demanding method alone.

What is Density Functional Theory?

Density Functional Theory, or DFT, is a computational quantum-mechanical approach used to investigate the electronic structure and properties of materials.

It is widely used in materials science, chemistry and condensed-matter physics.

What is the Melt-Quench Process?

The researchers generated their model of amorphous carbon using a computational melt-quench process.

In simplified terms, the simulated structure was heated to disrupt its orderly arrangement and then cooled rapidly to preserve a disordered configuration.

Param Ananta Supercomputer

The researchers used IIT Gandhinagar's Param Ananta supercomputing facility for the simulations.

Supercomputers are useful for complex scientific calculations that would take much longer on ordinary computing systems.

Has the New Catalyst Been Commercialised?

No commercial deployment was established by this study.

The researchers provided computational evidence identifying promising structures. Further experimental validation is required before the material's practical catalytic performance can be established.

This distinction is important: a promising simulation result does not by itself demonstrate that an industrial hydrogen-production technology is ready.

National Green Hydrogen Mission

The research is relevant to India's National Green Hydrogen Mission, which seeks to strengthen the country's capabilities in producing, using and exporting green hydrogen.

Affordable catalysts could potentially help improve the economics of hydrogen-production technologies if their performance is confirmed experimentally and at larger scales.

Importance for Competitive Exams

This development connects materials science, nanotechnology, electrochemistry, artificial intelligence, renewable energy and India's energy-transition policies.

Important Facts

• Research institution: IIT Gandhinagar.
• Material: Monolayer Amorphous Carbon.
• Abbreviation: MAC.
• Material thickness: approximately one atom.
• Potential hydrogen adsorption sites examined: approximately 1,183.
• Scientific journal: npj 2D Materials and Applications.
• Computational methods: DFT and MACE.
• Supercomputing facility: Param Ananta.
• Research objective: identify promising metal-free catalytic structures for hydrogen production.
• Experimental validation is still required.