Dr Xiaomin Xu, Senior Lecturer at Curtin University, is developing low-cost materials to make clean hydrogen and other sustainable fuels more affordable and accessible. Hydrogen has enormous potential to replace fossil fuels and decarbonise hard-to-abate industries such as steelmaking, but producing clean hydrogen remains expensive, partly because current technologies rely on costly materials. Reducing these costs is critical if hydrogen is to be produced and used at the scale needed for a net-zero future.
His work bridges the gap between fundamental materials discovery and real-world clean-energy technologies by studying how these materials perform under realistic operating conditions and integrating them into prototype devices such as water electrolysers. By combining materials innovation with practical device development, Dr Xu’s research aims to lower the cost of clean fuel production and help accelerate Australia’s transition to a sustainable, net-zero economy.