Researchers at the University of Wollongong have developed an electrolyser system that converts electricity to hydrogen with 85% efficiency, substantially better than commercial electrolysers that typically achieve 70-75% efficiency.

The improvement comes from novel catalyst materials based on earth-abundant metals rather than expensive platinum and iridium used in conventional electrolysers. The catalysts reduce overpotentials needed for water splitting reactions, meaning less electricity is wasted as heat.

Professor Zhaolin Liu, who leads UOW’s hydrogen research program, said efficiency improvements directly impact green hydrogen economics. “Every percentage point of efficiency improvement reduces the electricity needed to produce hydrogen. When you’re talking about industrial-scale production using renewable electricity, those savings add up quickly.”

Green hydrogen, produced by splitting water using renewable electricity, is seen as critical for decarbonising heavy industry and long-distance transport. But it’s currently more expensive than hydrogen made from natural gas, even when carbon emissions are factored in.

Production costs are dominated by electricity expenses. Improving electrolyser efficiency by 10-15 percentage points could reduce green hydrogen costs by 15-20%, moving closer to cost competitiveness with fossil fuel alternatives.

The UOW catalysts use nickel-iron-cobalt compounds with carefully engineered nanostructures that maximise surface area and active sites for water splitting reactions. These materials are thousands of times cheaper than platinum-group metals while delivering comparable performance.

Durability is the other critical factor beyond efficiency. Electrolysers need to operate continuously for years to justify capital costs. The UOW catalysts maintain stable performance for over 10,000 hours of testing, equivalent to roughly 13 months of continuous operation.

That’s encouraging but still short of commercial requirements. Industrial electrolysers typically need 60,000-80,000 hours of operational life, representing 7-9 years. Extended testing is underway to verify whether the catalysts can meet those durability targets.

One degradation mechanism the team is addressing is catalyst dissolution at the high potentials and pH conditions inside electrolysers. Protective coatings and optimised catalyst compositions help but haven’t completely eliminated degradation.

The research builds on decades of electrochemistry research at Wollongong, which has become an Australian centre for battery and electrolyser development. The university’s proximity to BlueScope Steel in Port Kembla creates opportunities for collaborating on industrial hydrogen applications.

BlueScope has announced plans to explore hydrogen-based steelmaking to reduce carbon emissions. Steel production accounts for about 7% of global CO2 emissions, mostly from using coal as a reducing agent to extract iron from ore. Hydrogen can potentially substitute for coal, producing water instead of CO2.

But green hydrogen costs need to fall substantially before hydrogen-based steel becomes economically viable. Current green hydrogen costs around $6-8 per kilogram in Australia, while industrial hydrogen from natural gas costs $1.50-2 per kilogram.

Higher electrolyser efficiency helps but isn’t sufficient by itself. Renewable electricity costs matter enormously. Australia’s excellent solar and wind resources should provide low-cost renewable electricity, potentially enabling competitive green hydrogen production.

Several Australian projects aim to produce green hydrogen for export to Asia, particularly Japan and South Korea, which have committed to hydrogen as part of their decarbonisation strategies. Whether these projects proceed depends on costs declining as expected.

The UOW technology is being commercialised through a startup called Hysata, which has raised $42 million to develop commercial electrolyser products. The company aims to begin selling systems to industrial customers by late 2026.

Hysata’s approach uses a capillary-fed electrolyser design where water is delivered to catalysts through a porous membrane. This reduces resistance and improves efficiency compared to conventional designs where electrodes are immersed in liquid electrolyte.

The design is particularly well-suited to intermittent operation with renewable energy. Solar and wind power vary throughout the day and year, and electrolysers need to handle those variations without degrading. The UOW/Hysata design reportedly starts and stops more readily than conventional alkaline electrolysers.

Competition in electrolyser technology is intensifying globally. Chinese manufacturers are scaling up production rapidly, driving down costs through manufacturing volume. European companies are deploying large electrolysers for industrial projects. Australian technology needs clear performance advantages to compete.

The 85% efficiency the UOW team achieved represents about 10% improvement over current best commercial systems. Whether that’s sufficient competitive advantage depends on costs, durability, and manufacturing scalability.

Building an Australian electrolyser manufacturing industry faces challenges. The market is still relatively small globally, and achieving manufacturing scale requires substantial capital investment and risk tolerance. Whether Australian investors and government will support that remains to be seen.

Federal government hydrogen production subsidies, announced in 2024, provide $2 per kilogram support for green hydrogen production for the first ten years of operation. That should help early projects achieve viability while costs come down.

The hydrogen opportunity for Australia is substantial if it materialises. Export revenues could eventually reach tens of billions annually, and domestic industries could decarbonise using locally produced hydrogen. But international competition is fierce and technology alone won’t guarantee success.

The UOW research represents important technical progress that could support Australian competitiveness in the emerging hydrogen economy. Whether that translates to commercial success depends on factors well beyond laboratory performance, including manufacturing capability, market development, and supportive policy frameworks.

Hysata is expected to announce pilot project deployments in 2026, providing real-world validation of the technology’s performance and durability. Those results will be crucial for attracting the investment needed to scale manufacturing and compete globally.