Innovating sustainable hydrogen production via seawater electrolysis

[Caribbeans]

Innovating sustainable hydrogen production via seawater electrolysis

Science China Press | August 13, 2024

Seawater electrolysis holds immense promise as a means to decarbonize the global energy sector. However, challenges such as anode corrosion by chloride ions, unwanted chloride oxidation reactions, and the high cost of catalysts have hindered direct seawater electrolysis.

To address these issues, self-supported nickel-iron (NiFe) materials have emerged as attractive bifunctional catalysts for both hydrogen evolution and oxygen evolution due to their high intrinsic activity and affordability. Wood-based carbon (WC) structures have gained attention as an ideal substrate for these active materials due to their hierarchical porous nature and excellent conductivity.

In a bid to enhance the stability of NiFe-based electrodes in seawater electrolysis, a new approach was devised by Prof. Hong Chen (Southern University of Science and Technology in China), Prof. Bing-Jie Ni (University of New South Wales in Australia), and Prof. Zongping Shao (Curtin University in Australia). The research is published in the journal Science Bulletin.

Through the introduction of tungsten into the active NiFe-based catalysts, the anti-corrosion properties and stability of the anodes were significantly improved. The innovative WC-supported W-doped NiFe sulfide (W-NiFeS/WC) electrode was developed for efficient overall seawater electrolysis through a specialized preparation method involving impregnation and sulfidation...more
https://techxplore.com/news/2024-08-sustainable-hydrogen-production-seawater-electrolysis.html

China's long term hydrogen strategy (they're not expecting this to happen in 6 months)
Hydrogen Industry Development Plan (2021-2035)
Source: International Energy Agency
https://www.iea.org/policies/16977-hydrogen-industry-development-plan-2021-2035

China's not green? Plenty of blame to go around. For example:

China, South Korea are top destinations for US LNG in July as Europe's market share drops

China and South Korea each received 11 US LNG cargoes in July, followed by Japan with nine, and India, the Netherlands and Argentina, each with eight, Commodity Insights data showed.
https://www.spglobal.com/commodityinsights/en/market-insights/latest-news/lng/080224-china-south-korea-are-top-destinations-for-us-lng-in-july-as-europes-market-share-drops