The Ministry of Science and Technology has announced the development of an innovative low-cost, metal-free porous organic catalyst that can efficiently produce hydrogen fuel through the harvesting of mechanical energy. This breakthrough is particularly significant in light of global efforts to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and mitigate climate change impacts. With a growing need for sustainable, renewable energy sources, this new green hydrogen (H2) production method offers a potentially transformative alternative.
Hydrogen fuel emerges as an attractive option due to its ability to generate no direct carbon emissions when used in fuel cells and produce only water as a byproduct. Its potential in the transition towards more environmentally friendly energy systems is bolstered by India's National Green Hydrogen Mission, which aims to boost scale-up of production, support research and innovation, and establish India as a global leader in hydrogen technology.
Traditionally, green H2 production methods have relied on water splitting facilitated through catalytic reactions. Piezocatalysis has become increasingly promising as a method capable of converting mechanical energy into charge carriers that can activate water-splitting processes without requiring heavy or transition metals, known for having limited piezoelectric property efficiency due to confined surface charges.
Research led by Professors Tapas K. Maji from the Chemistry and Physics of Materials Unit at Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), an institution sponsored by India's Department of Science & Technology, and Umesh V. Waghmare, among others, has advanced this sector significantly.
The catalyst developed uses a covalent organic framework (COF) that combines imide linkages between the organic donor molecule Tris4aminophenylamine (TAPA) and acceptor molecule Pyromellitic dianhydride (PDA). This COF system shows efficient piezocatalysis due to its ferrielectric (FiE) ordering. FiE ordering in this COF structure provides a higher number of charges at the surface, enabling enhanced efficiency compared to conventional ferroelectric materials which often saturate quickly and have limited catalytic potential.
The team discovered that their system can create dipoles by separating positive and negative charges through TAPA units with unique propeller-like shapes. This leads to energy band coupling and resonance, increasing instability in the lattice structure towards FiE ordering. The resulting dipoles are responsive to mechanical pressure and generate electron/hole pairs when stimulated mechanically, making this catalyst highly effective for water splitting and hydrogen production.
This innovation represents a cost-effective solution that could potentially enable more widespread and efficient hydrogen production using mechanical energy. While acknowledging that future studies may further explore the practical applications and scalability of this technology, this development highlights an exciting trajectory towards sustainable energy sources in India and beyond.
Key Entities Referenced
Ministry of Science Technology: A government department responsible for science and technology policy.
New metalfree organic catalyst: An innovative material capable of producing hydrogen fuel by converting mechanical energy into chemical energy.
Researchers: Academics or scientists who developed the novel, cost-effective, metalfree porous organic catalyst.
PIB Delhi: The Public Information Bureau in Delhi, which possibly disseminated the information about the research.
Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR) Bengaluru: An autonomous institution under the Department of Science & Technology, Government of India, involved in conducting advanced scientific research.
Advanced Functional Materials: A journal that published a study demonstrating water splitting catalysis using the novel catalyst.
Department of Science Technology (Government of India): The governmental body responsible for science and technology policies and programs in India.
National Green Hydrogen Mission: A government initiative aimed at promoting large-scale green hydrogen production, research, innovation, and positioning the country as a global leader in the hydrogen economy.
Professor Tapas K. Maji: A researcher from JNCASR who led the development of the metalfree donoracceptor based covalentorganic framework COF for piezocatalytic water splitting.
Ms. Adrija Ghosh, Ms. Surabhi Menon, Dr. Sandip Biswas, and Dr. Anupam Dey: Collaborating researchers from JNCASR who contributed to the development of the catalyst system.
Dr. Supriya Sahoo and Prof. Ramamoorthy Boomishankar: Consortium members, possibly from another institution, who made contributions to interdisciplinary research efforts related to green hydrogen technology.
Poland University of Science and Technology in Wrocaw: A university involved in collaborative scientific research efforts led by Prof. Jan K. Zarba, although the specific roles or responsibilities are not detailed.
Ministry of Science & Technology
New metal-free organic catalyst can produce
hydrogen fuel by harvesting mechanical energy
Posted On: 05 MAY 2025 4:58PM by PIB Delhi
Researchers have developed a novel, cost-effective, metal-free porous organic catalyst for efficient H
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production by harvesting mechanical energy.
In order to reduce the global warming and related impact of fossil fuels, transition towards sustainable
alternatives based on renewable energy becomes increasingly critical. Green hydrogen (H₂) fuel has emerged
as a game-changing renewable and clean-burning energy source, which generates no direct carbon emissions
and only water as a by-product when used in fuel cells. Recognizing the critical role of green H in
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sustainable energy, the Government of India launched the National Green Hydrogen Mission to drive large-
scale production, promote research and innovation, and position the country as a global leader in H economy.
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Among the environmentally benign methods of H production, overall water splitting stands out as
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an eective and scalable technique that relies on a catalytic strategy since the reaction is
energetically uphill. Piezocatalysis has emerged as a promising catalytic technology which harvests
mechanical perturbations with a piezoelectric material to generate charge carriers that are utilized to
catalyze water splitting.
In recent groundbreaking research work, Professor Tapas K. Maji from Chemistry and Physics of
Materials Unit at Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR) Bengaluru
(an autonomous institution under the Department of Science & Technology, Govt. of India) and his
research team have developed a metal-free donor-acceptor based covalent-organic framework
(COF) for piezocatalytic water splitting. This study published in Advanced Functional Materials
demonstrates a Covalent organic framework (COF) built from imide linkages between organic donor
molecule tris(4-aminophenyl)amine (TAPA) and acceptor molecule pyromellitic dianhydride (PDA)
acceptor exhibiting unique ferrielectric (FiE) ordering, which showed efficient piezocatalytic activity
for water splitting to produce H .
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This discovery breaks the traditional notion of solely employing heavy or transition metal-based
ferroelectric (FE) materials as piezocatalysts for catalyzing water splitting reaction. Conventional FE
materials have limited charges confined at the surface only which usually lead to quick saturation of
their piezocatalytic activity. In contrast, FiE ordering in a COF provides a multifold enhanced
number of charges at the pore surfaces owing to the large local electric fields. The sponge-like
porous structure of a COF allows the diffusion of water molecules to efficiently access and utilize
these charge carriers for catalysis, giving ultra-high H production yields and outperforming all
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oxide-based inorganic piezocatalysts.Figure: Schematic showing piezocatalytic water splitting by a metal-free donor-acceptor based covalent
organic framework.
Using a simple donor molecule like TAPA and an acceptor molecule like PDA, Prof. Maji and his
research team have built a COF system that has strong charge transfer properties, which creates
dipoles (separation between positive and negative charges).
The TAPA units have a unique propeller-like shape, where their benzene rings twist and tilt to break the flat
symmetry of the structure, helping it reach a more stable, lower-energy state. Prof. Umesh V. Waghmare and
his team from JNCASR, who are collaborators of the study, showed using theoretical analyses that this COF
has an unusual electronic structure with energy bands that couple and resonate with each other by dipolar
ordering. This causes instability in the lattice structure, leading to FiE ordering. These FiE dipoles interact
with flexible twisting molecular motion in the material, making them responsive to mechanical pressure. As a
result, the material can generate electron-hole pairs when mechanically stimulated, making it a highly
efficient piezocatalyst for water splitting for H production. The team comprises four other researchers from
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JNCASR: Ms. Adrija Ghosh, Ms. Surabhi Menon, Dr. Sandip Biswas and Dr. Anupam Dey.
Apart from JNCASR, Dr. Supriya Sahoo and Prof. Ramamoorthy Boomishankar from Indian
Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune and Prof. Jan K. Zarba from Wrocaw University
of Science and Technology, Poland made important contributions to the present interdisciplinary
study.
The utilization of a cost-effective, metal-free system with a high production rate of H by harvesting
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mechanical energy opens up a new route to green H based on porous heterogeneous catalysts.
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NKR/PSM
(Release ID: 2127064)