Core electrode technology has barely evolved since the 1960s. Today, activated electrodes are slow and costly to produce. They depend on precious metals like platinum and ruthenium. These electrodes also degrade more quickly, require more maintenance, and are less stable under variable power conditions. Long replacement cycles, sometimes stretching to months, drive up operational costs, downtime, and emissions.
As energy prices rise and electrification accelerates, even small efficiency gains (1–2%) translate into massive economic and environmental impact.
Jolt Solutions addresses this bottleneck with a different approach to coating activated electrodes. The startup uses a proprietary solution-combustion coating process. It uses a fully automated spray method instead of multi-day, multi-layer oven baking.
To better understand how they are doing it, we spoke to Leon Rizzi, CEO of Jolt Solutions. This article contains notable highlights from our entire conversation.
This interview is part of our exclusive Scouted By GreyB series. Here, we speak with the founders of innovative startups to understand how their solutions address critical industry challenges and help ensure compliance with industry and government regulations. (Know more about startups scouted by GreyB!)
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“An electrode has the same importance in electrochemistry as a microchip does in the electronics industry. It is the absolute heart of the process.”
Leon Rizzi is a technology growth specialist and entrepreneur. He had over two decades of experience in C-suite roles across markets, such as the USA, UK, Russia, Israel, and Germany. Before founding Jolt Solutions, he built and scaled commercial, sales, and strategic business processes at tech companies such as ReachNow and Moovit. Under his leadership, Jolt has successfully moved from lab research to full commercial production and secured Series A funding to expand its industrial impact across Europe.
Activated Electrodes Challenging 60 Years of Electrochemistry Stagnation
Spun out of the Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia (ICIQ), Jolt Solutions replaces decades-old electrode coating methods with a rapid, automated solution-combustion process. Instead of multi-day oven baking, it uses an automated spray followed by a rapid thermal reaction. The coating takes about a minute to complete.
The process forms a porous, durable catalytic layer with up to 10× the surface area. This cuts precious metal use while improving energy efficiency and tolerance to power fluctuations. Modular production lines can be deployed near demand, shifting manufacturing from centralized mega-factories to distributed systems.
Jolt focuses on hydrogen electrolysis, chlorine generation, oxygen evolution, and water treatment. It is also advancing next-generation energy storage and power-to-X technologies. By combining advanced coating hardware with vertically integrated AI for catalyst development, Jolt operates as both a manufacturing innovator and a materials discovery platform in electrochemistry.
You often describe electrochemistry as “hiding in plain sight.” Why is this industry so important, and what’s broken today?
Leon: Electrochemistry is everywhere, even if people don’t realize it. Chlorine for drinking water, hydrogen production, metal refining (e.g., copper and nickel), batteries, and semiconductor coatings all depend on electrodes. In some countries, just the chlor-alkali industry consumes 2–3% of total national electricity. That’s enormous.
The problem is that the core electrode technology hasn’t meaningfully evolved since the 1960s. Manufacturing is slow and expensive. Coatings are applied in multiple layers, baked for days, and they degrade steadily. If power fluctuates, which is common with renewable energy sources, it can quickly destroy conventional electrodes. Downtime, replacement delays, and energy inefficiencies make the system costly and fragile.
What exactly is Jolt’s technological breakthrough?
Leon: The traditional process involves making catalyst powder, mixing it into an ink, applying multiple layers, and baking each one for days. We’ve replaced that with what we call solution combustion coating.
We spray a specially formulated catalyst ink onto the substrate, and as it passes under infrared heating, it triggers a rapid exothermic reaction. In milliseconds, the coating reaches temperatures around 900–1,000°C locally. That forms the catalyst, bonds it to the substrate, removes impurities, and creates a porous three-dimensional structure, all in about a minute.
Instead of applying 8–15 layers over several days, we apply one optimized layer in a continuous automated process. The result is a higher surface area, far greater durability, and dramatically reduced precious metal use.
How does this translate into performance improvements for hydrogen and chlorine production?
Leon: In hydrogen, energy efficiency and durability are everything. With our PGM-free anodes and PGM-light cathodes, we’re achieving very high system efficiencies and strong resistance to reverse polarity, meaning fluctuating renewable power doesn’t damage the electrode.
In chlorine and oxygen evolution, we’ve shown extended lifetimes beyond industry standards while using significantly less ruthenium. Customers have tested our electrodes under extreme current densities and long-duration runs with minimal degradation. That’s critical because degradation means rising energy costs over time. If you can maintain performance instead of watching it decline month by month, the savings compound quickly.
Your production model seems very different from traditional electrode factories. How does scalability work?
Leon: Traditional electrode plants are massive facilities located far from end users. They rely on large ovens, toxic solvents, and long batch cycles. Our line is modular, automated, and uses water-based inks. It’s clean enough to operate near urban areas.
We can coat an electrode roughly every minute. That changes the economics completely. Instead of waiting months for replacements from a distant factory, you can produce near demand. We envision distributed mini production lines, almost like mushrooms, located where there’s an industrial need.
This model also allows us to enter consumer and decentralized markets, like on-site water disinfection systems or dental sterilization devices. Those markets were impossible before because electrode production couldn’t support high volumes at low cost.
You’ve also built an in-house AI platform. How does that fit into the business?
Leon: The real bottleneck in catalysis has always been coating speed. You can generate thousands of potential catalyst formulas, but if each one takes days to coat and test, development timelines stretch into decades.
Because we can coat in minutes, we generate large volumes of performance data quickly. We built our own targeted AI platform, integrated with our coating process, to analyze that data and refine catalyst candidates. It’s tightly linked to our manufacturing system. That combination is our biggest moat.
It means our team of fewer than ten chemists can iterate faster than much larger competitors. We’re not just making better electrodes—we’re accelerating materials discovery itself.
What markets are you prioritizing over the next two years?
Leon: Our focus is on hydrogen and water treatment. Hydrogen is re-emerging, and while growth has been slower than expected, we’re preparing for scale by moving up the value chain into stacks.
In chlorine and water treatment, demand is immediate. From swimming pool chlorinators to industrial oxidation and safe drinking water systems, we see a strong pull from existing sectors. We’re also developing compact systems for decentralized applications, especially in regions without stable grid infrastructure.
Longer term, we’ll expand into carbon coatings for advanced batteries and energy storage. But for now, it’s about executing well in hydrogen and chlorine.
As a repeat entrepreneur, what keeps you up at night?
Leon: Every startup founder wakes up wondering what might go wrong. Cash flow is always a concern. Markets move more slowly than you expect. Customers take time to adopt new technology.
But technically, I’ve never seen anything progress this smoothly in deep tech. Our risk was never in the lab. It’s about scaling manufacturing and aligning with market timing. If the technology didn’t work, I’d be worried. Apart from the usual startup pressures, we’re confident in what we’ve built.
Meet our Interviewer – Shabaz Khan, Marketing Manager at GreyB
Shabaz Khan, Marketing Manager
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