On September 2nd, People's Daily Online announced that China's hydrogen energy industry will officially enter the first year of "scale" in 2025. According to the "Design and Evaluation of China's Hydrogen Energy Development Index" released this year, the national hydrogen energy industry development index will climb from 63.19 to 73.68 from 2021 to 2024. This means that China's hydrogen energy industry as a whole has gradually moved from a low level of development to a medium level of development, and is moving from the "pilot demonstration" stage to the "scale development" stage. In 2025, the construction of hydrogen energy infrastructure will accelerate and the foundation for industrial development will continue to solidify. The various dimensions of China's hydrogen energy industry are expected to maintain growth momentum.

But you know what? The real difficulty in getting small hydrogen atoms from the laboratory to our cars, drones, and even mobile phones lies in the catalysts, membrane materials, and hydrogen storage alloys in the nano world - in short, materials science is the "hidden protagonist" of the hydrogen revolution.

Just this year, Academician Sun Jun, Professor Liu Gang, and Xu Yuantao from two "Jiao Tong University" (Xi'an Jiaotong University and Shanghai Jiao Tong University) collaborated to publish the latest research paper on the "hydrogen embrittlement" phenomenon in Nature, which increased the hydrogen embrittlement resistance of aluminum alloys by nearly five times and has the potential to cure the "brittle bone disease" of hydrogen exposed materials in one fell swoop.

At the same time, Professor Zhou Wu from the University of Science and Technology of China and Professor Martin from Peking University have also made significant breakthroughs in hydrogen production technology research, published in both Nature and Science. Scientists have effectively improved the stability of nanocatalysts in the methanol water reforming (MSR) hydrogen production reaction through material design, resulting in a catalytic lifespan exceeding 1000 hours.

In terms of hydrogen storage technology, solid-state hydrogen storage materials are highly anticipated. The "High Efficiency Hydrogen Storage Technology and Application Shanxi Provincial Key Laboratory" at North China University has achieved ton level mass production of highly active magnesium based hydrogen storage materials through "low-temperature mechanical alloying+catalyst coating" technology. The product has a hydrogen absorption capacity of 6.2 wt% and a hydrogen release temperature of<280 ℃, putting pressure on expensive high-pressure gaseous hydrogen storage tanks today.

Seeing this, you may ask: How far are these high-end experiments from my research group and production line? The answer is - only one 'microscopic magic book' that allows you to see atoms. Thermo Fisher Scientific's latest online "Hydrogen Energy Materials Electron Microscopy Special Station" provides a comprehensive solution for the entire process from hydrogen production, storage to utilization