Hydrogen Extracted from Seawater, Promoting 'Eco-Friendly' Production
In a pioneering development, an international team led by Professor Shizhang Qiao and Associate Professor Yao Zheng has successfully split seawater to produce green hydrogen using a commercial electrolyser. The team's research, published in the prestigious journal Nature Energy on February 1, 2023, could revolutionise the hydrogen production industry.
The team, which includes research centres in Ghana and Namibia, in collaboration with the Forschungszentrum Jülich in Germany, used a non-precious catalyst, specifically cobalt oxide with chromium oxide, in the electrolyser. This marks a significant step forward, as it eliminates the need for expensive precious metals like platinum and iridium typically used in electrolysis.
Associate Professor Zheng highlighted the practicality of seawater as a feedstock, particularly for regions with long coastlines and abundant sunlight. Currently, electrolysers are operated with highly purified water electrolyte, which increases the scarcity of freshwater resources with growing hydrogen demand. By directly utilising seawater without pre-treatment systems and alkali addition, the team has shown similar performance as that of existing metal-based mature pure water electrolysers.
The performance of the commercial electrolyser with the team's catalysts in seawater is comparable to that of platinum/iridium catalysts in highly purified deionised water. This breakthrough could potentially reduce the operation and maintenance cost of hydrogen production processes by eliminating the need for water pre-treatment systems.
Despite seawater electrolysis being in early development due to electrode side reactions and corrosion arising from the complexities of using seawater, the team plans to work on scaling up the system for commercial processes such as hydrogen generation for fuel cells and ammonia synthesis.
Associate Professor Zheng emphasised the potential of this research, stating, "Seawater is an almost infinite resource. Utilising it as a natural feedstock electrolyte could significantly reduce the environmental impact and cost of hydrogen production."
This innovative research offers a promising solution to the growing demand for green hydrogen, paving the way for a more sustainable future.
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