Being at the Cutting Edge of Things

On a cold night in 2019, the lights went off in one of the research labs of the National University of Singapore (NUS). The ceiling lights in Associate Professor Xue Jun Min’s research lab are usually on for 24 hours. But this time, an unexpected power trip occurred while the lab was closed for the day. The researchers, led by Prof. Xue, Dr Wang Xiaopeng and Dr Vincent Lee Wee Siang, returned the next day to find the performance of a nickel oxyhydroxide-based material in the water electrolysis experiment that continued in the dark had fallen

drastically. Now, to give some background, the electro catalytic mechanism in water electrolysis, it is one of the world’s extensively well-researched topics. The nickel-based material is an extremely common catalyst.

Nobody in the scientific fraternity had seen such a drop in performance, majorly because, well, no one had ever done that experiment in the dark. Theoretically, nickel oxyhydroxide-based materials shouldn’t be sensitive to light; the light should not affect its properties. After three years and a lot of further research that went beyond Singapore's border, this led to a serendipitous scientific discovery that could potentially revolutionize the way hydrogen gas an element crucial to many industrial processes is produced from water. Prof Xue and his team have now shared their findings publicly in a paper.

Thanks to the researchoriented mindset of many faculty members like Prof. Xuem, it is no wonder NUS is at the forefront of innovations and produces students who are at the top of the game. In this issue, we unfurl the stories of some of them who make the institute proud.
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