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Being able to analyze these reactions with increased accuracy, heightened sensitivity and greater cost-effectiveness will vastly improve scientists’ understanding of nanocatalysts, which will enable the development of new environmentally friendly fuel cells that are more efficient, more durable and less expensive to produce. Eventually, those new fuel cells could be used to power vehicles that run on hydrogen, the 10th most abundant element on Earth, and give off water as exhaust.

The work was led by Xianfeng Duan, a UCLA professor of chemistry and biochemistry, and Yu Huang, a professor of materials science and engineering; Mengning Ding, a UCLA postdoctoral scholar in materials science and engineering, was the first author of the study, which was published online in the journal Nature Communications.