Direct Seawater Electrolysis: From Catalyst Design to Device Applications

Abstract

Direct seawater electrolysis (DSE) for hydrogen production, using earth‐abundant seawater as the feedstock and renewable electricity as the driving source, paves a new opportunity for flexible energy conversion/storage and smooths the volatility of renewable energy. Unfortunately, the complex environments of seawater impose significant challenges on the design of DSE catalysts, and the practical performance of many current DSE catalysts remains unsatisfactory on the device level. However, many studies predominantly concentrated on the development of electrocatalysts for DSE without giving due consideration to the specific devices. To mitigate this gap, we systematically evaluated the most recent progress (mainly published within the year 2020–2023) of DSE electrocatalysts and devices. By discussing key bottlenecks, corresponding mitigation strategies, and various device designs and applications, we emphasize that it is tremendously challenging to address the trade‐off among activity, stability, and selectivity for DSE electrocatalysts by a single shot. In addition, the rational design of the DSE electrocatalysts needs to align with the specific device configuration, which is more effective than attempting to comprehensively enhance all catalytic parameters. This work, featuring the first review of this kind to consider rational catalyst design in the framework of DSE devices, will facilitate practical DSE development.This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved

Energy‐Saving Hydrogen Production by Seawater Splitting Coupled with PET Plastic Upcycling

“…As shown in Figure S21, no obvious changes in Raman peaks were observed under the working potential of EGOR (0.6-1.2 V vs RHE), indicating that there is no structural change of Pd─CuCo 2 O 4 . [26] As for electrochemical in situ FTIR, the intermediates can be detected during the EGOR process. The peaks at 1660 and 1640 cm −1 can be assigned to interfacial H 2 O and 2-hydroxyacetyl (*OC-CH 2 OH) intermediates (Figure S22, Supporting Information).…”

Solar‐Driven Hydrogen Evolution from Value‐Added Waste Treatment

“…Not only does H 2 own superior heating value than conventional fuel (2.4, 2.8, and 4.0 times of methane, gasoline, and coal), [1][2][3] but also it plays a crucial role in energy grid, effectively bridging different resource and value-added chemicals synthesis (i.e., ammonia production, crude oil hydrogenation). [4,5] However, H 2 market currently is still dominated by gray hydrogen (obtained by reformation of fossil fuels such as coal and natural gas), [6][7][8] while green hydrogen (produced from renewable energy such electricity, [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16] solar energy, [17][18][19][20] and etc.) takes up a minor percentage.…”

Ruthenium nanoparticles decorated with surface hydroxyl and borate species boost overall seawater splitting via increased hydrophilicity

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