New metal-free porous material can help produce affordable clean energy

Researchers from the S. N. Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences, Institute of Nano Science and Technology, and SRM University have developed a metal-free organic porous material named TTT-DHTD. This material acts as an efficient oxygen reduction reaction catalyst in zinc–air batteries and clean-energy technologies, potentially replacing rare and expensive platinum. Built from abundant elements like carbon, sulfur, nitrogen, and hydrogen into an ultra-porous honeycomb-like network, the catalyst achieved about 96% of the performance of commercial platinum catalysts during laboratory tests, maintaining stability without degradation over 120 hours of continuous operation.