Scaling hydrogen: How can precious metals balance performance, reduction and circularity?

As hydrogen scales up, precious metal efficiency, durability and circularity become increasingly important. (Image: Magnific)

As countries and industries accelerate their transition towards lower-carbon energy systems, hydrogen is emerging as an important area of investment and technological development. The industry is moving beyond demonstration projects and technology validation, with greater attention being paid to how hydrogen technologies can be scaled cost-effectively and reliably.

This shift is also making material efficiency central to technology development and supply-chain planning. Precious metals, especially platinum group metals (PGMs), remain important in hydrogen production, purification and utilization because they provide catalytic and functional properties that are difficult to match. However, their cost and availability make it difficult to simply increase material use as the industry scales. The focus is therefore shifting towards reducing material use, extending operating life and recovering valuable metals for reuse.

Using precious metals efficiently depends not only on the amount used in a catalyst or component, but also on how materials are produced, supplied, recovered and reused. TANAKA works across several of these areas, including electrocatalyst for fuel-cells and water electrolysis, hydrogen permeable membranes, industrial-scale manufacturing, precious-metal recovery and refining.

As hydrogen scales, material challenges come into focus

At this stage, the challenge is no longer simply developing high-performing materials. It is ensuring that they can perform consistently at industrial scale, while maintaining durability, manufacturing consistency and a reliable supply as demand grows.

Dr. Buennagel of TANAKA says that “initial catalyst performance remains important, but customers are increasingly focused on total cost of ownership, long-term durability, manufacturing consistency and supply security.” TANAKA sees reducing precious-metal consumption without compromising efficiency or operating lifetime as a key challenge. It also sees a broader role for materials suppliers. As the company puts it, suppliers need to provide materials that deliver reproducible performance at industrial scale while supporting customers with reliable precious-metal supply and, increasingly, recovery and refining solutions.

This is particularly important for polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) water electrolysis, where iridium (Ir) plays an important role in the oxygen-evolution reaction (OER) and its availability is an important consideration for future scale-up. Reducing iridium consumption is therefore not simply about using less material. The challenge is to make better use of Ir while maintaining the performance and durability needed for industrial operation.

Pt-based electrocatalysts enable polymer electrolyte fuel cells to generate electricity from hydrogen and oxygen, with water as the reaction product.

Why do precious metals still remain essential?

At the same time, reducing precious-metal use does not mean that these materials can simply be replaced. PGMs combine high catalytic activity with properties that are important under demanding operating conditions. Any alternative material needs to match not only initial catalytic performance, but also the durability, efficiency and stability required in actual use.

Dr. Buennagel of TANAKA explains that different precious metals serve different purposes across the hydrogen value chain. Platinum (Pt) is electrocatalyst central to many polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs), while iridium (Ir) is particularly important for the oxygen-evolution reaction in PEM water electrolysis, where catalysts must withstand highly oxidative and acidic conditions. Palladium (Pd) can be used for hydrogen separation and purification because of its selective hydrogen permeability. Ruthenium (Ru) and rhodium (Rh) based catalysts can support hydrogen production from hydrocarbons, while shift-reaction and preferential oxidation (PROX) catalysts can increase hydrogen yield and reduce residual carbon monoxide (CO) in hydrogen streams.

Alternative materials are being developed, but matching this combination of properties remains a challenge. A material may perform well in initial tests but fall short in durability, efficiency or stability over longer periods of operation. TANAKA therefore sees room to use precious metals more efficiently while continuing to develop materials that can meet the requirements of industrial hydrogen applications.

The direction is not “no precious metals,” but “less material, longer life and more efficient use”

This is why the next step is not necessarily to eliminate precious metals, but to use them more effectively. The aim is to reduce the amount needed for a given function while maintaining the performance and durability required over the operating life of the system.

For PEM water electrolysis, this is particularly important for iridium. Dr. Buennagel of TANAKA explains that “the challenge is not simply to reduce the amount of iridium, but to improve its utilization while maintaining the activity and durability required for industrial operation.” Thus TANAKA is working on several catalyst designs to address this challenge. Its high-activity TEC77100 iridium oxide catalyst has a high specific surface area, which can help improve catalyst utilization, while TEC77110 uses a rutile-type crystal structure to support long-term durability.

PEM water electrolysis requires catalysts that combine high activity and durability with efficient use of finite resources such as iridium (Ir).

As Dr. Buennagel puts it, catalyst development requires balancing “initial activity, long-term stability and material efficiency.” TANAKA is also developing a new-concept iridium catalyst targeting a loading of 0.1 mg/cm². Dr. Buennagel stresses that this is a development target, not an achieved reduction. Beyond catalyst design, TANAKA is also working to reduce precious-metal consumption in other components through optimized coating thickness, selective plating and recoating.

From technology development to industrial-scale production

For TANAKA, developing a high-performance material in the laboratory is only the beginning. As Dr. Buennagel puts it, “the real challenge is reproducing that performance consistently under industrial manufacturing conditions.” TANAKA has been developing fuel-cell electrocatalysts since 1985, building experience in catalyst formulation, manufacturing and quality control.

Its fuel-cell catalyst portfolio includes different formulations, precious-metal loadings and carbon supports to meet different performance and durability requirements. Once these materials move into industrial production, factors such as particle dispersion, metal loading and batch-to-batch consistency become critical. This experience also informs TANAKA’s development of water-electrolysis catalysts, as customers increasingly look for materials that meet technical requirements while supporting future production scale-up.

PEFC electrocatalysts use precious metal catalysts, mainly made of Pt-alloys.

The company is also applying its precious-metal expertise to hydrogen purification and separation. TANAKA’s HPM-L111 palladium-alloy hydrogen-permeable membrane can operate at approximately 100°C, compared with around 400°C for its conventional PdCu40 membrane. By modifying the membrane surface, TANAKA has developed a membrane that achieves high hydrogen permeability at a significantly lower temperature.

HPM-L111-World's first metal membrane with high hydrogen permeability below 100℃.

According to Dr. Buennagel, the lower operating temperature “has the potential to reduce heating requirements and simplify integration into hydrogen systems, depending on the application and system design.” Potential applications include hydrogen purification, hydrogen sensors, fuel-cell-related systems and hydrogen removal from equipment. Commercial adoption, however, will depend on the technical and economic requirements of each application.

Recovery, refining and circularity as part of the supply chain and sustainability

Recovering and refining precious metals is becoming an increasingly important part of the hydrogen technology supply chain and sustainability efforts. Ir and Pt are valuable resources, so how they are managed throughout the product lifecycle matters.

TANAKA combines precious-metal procurement, catalyst development and manufacturing with recovery and refining capabilities. This allows the company to support customers not only with the initial supply of precious metals, but also with the recovery of valuable materials from manufacturing residues and suitable end-of-life components.

For customers, this closed-loop approach can help reduce reliance on newly sourced materials. As Dr. Buennagel of TANAKA explains, “recovered metals can be returned to the manufacturing supply chain, reducing dependence on newly sourced material and supporting greater supply-chain resilience.” However, recovery efficiency depends on the composition of the incoming material and the processes required to treat it. Complex components, including membranes and catalyst-coated materials, can present additional recycling challenges.

TANAKA is also looking beyond precious metals, with an interest in recycling and reusing other materials used in fuel cells and water electrolysers, including carbon and fluorine-containing materials. The company’s longer-term objective is to work with customers to integrate precious-metal recovery into their material-supply strategies from the beginning, rather than treating recycling solely as an end-of-life activity.

Outlook: How will precious metals and alternative materials coexist?

Over the next five to ten years, the focus is likely to shift from simply using less precious metal to getting more value from every unit used. Further reductions in loading will depend on better catalyst design, higher activity and longer durability, but the challenges and opportunities will differ by application. Cutting Pt use in fuel cells presents different challenges from reducing Ir consumption in PEM water electrolysis.

Alternative catalyst materials will continue to develop, but wider adoption will depend on whether they can deliver the required performance and durability while remaining economically competitive under real operating conditions. At the same time, as hydrogen systems are deployed more widely, recovery and refining will become increasingly important.

For TANAKA, the longer-term opportunity lies in connecting catalyst development, materials supply and recycling. As of Dr. Buennagel of TANAKA’s view, “progress should be measured not only by reducing the amount of precious metal in an individual component, but also by improving its productivity over the full operating lifetime and recovering it for future use.”

Hydrogen Technology World Expo 2026

At  Hydrogen Technology World Expo 2026, October 20–22 at Hamburg Messe in Hamburg, Germany, TANAKA will showcase its portfolio of precious-metal technologies for hydrogen production, purification and utilization, alongside its recovery and refining solutions. Visitors are invited to stop by the TANAKA booth (Hall B7, Booth 7J54) to discuss catalyst performance, efficient precious-metal use, long-term durability and circular material management with the team, and to explore potential opportunities for collaboration across the hydrogen value chain. 

Explore TANAKA’s precious-metal technologies for hydrogen production, purification, utilization and circularity, visit: The Role of Precious Metals in Contributing to Carbon Neutrality

For product inquiries, contact TANAKA’s industrial precious metals team: Inquiries on Industrial Products