A tale of two catalyst surfaces (IMAGE) DOE/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory Caption An illustration combines two possible types of surface layers for a catalyst that performs the water-splitting reaction, the first step in making hydrogen fuel. The gray surface, top, is lanthanum oxide. The colorful surface is nickel oxide. A study led by researchers at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford University discovered that a rearrangement of atoms in the nickel oxide surface while carrying out the reaction made it twice as efficient, a phenomenon they hope to harness to design better catalysts. Lanthanum atoms are depicted in green, nickel in blue and oxygen in red. Credit CUBE3D Graphic Usage Restrictions None License Licensed content Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.