Green hydrogen has become a clean energy source and storage option for renewable energies such as solar or wind. Its great value is that it does not add carbon emissions to the atmosphere. Its main drawback, the high cost and complexity involved in its production.
Unlike the materials commonly used for this purpose - iridium, ruthenium or platinum - the catalysts developed are based on abundant and non-geostrategic metals, such as nickel or iron, whose high availability significantly reduces production costs.
In 2018, Gonzalo Abellán received a Starting Grant from the ERC for the development of the chemistry of new 2D materials analogous to graphene of interest in electronics or catalysis, a grant that has now allowed him to obtain a PoC, endowed with 150,000 euros, to carry out pilot tests related to the project, a final step in the knowledge transfer process, close to the commercialization of the product.
A chemist by training and a doctor in Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, Abellán is currently a distinguished researcher of the Gent-T plan of the Valencian Government for attracting and consolidating talent. He develops his work at the Institute of Molecular Science (ICMol) of the University of Valencia, at the Science Park of the academic institution, from where he leads several public and private research projects.
Abellán is also the main promoter of the company 2DMatch S.L., recently born as a spin-off of the University of Valencia and oriented to the commercialization of catalysts based on laminar materials for the production of hydrogen using renewable energies such as solar and wind power.
