[Ten years of major development in chemical technology] 067-2023 Chinese Academy of Sciences made important progress in seawater hydrogen production

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Chemical science and technology has developed greatly in the past ten years. Praise for China's prosperity and strength in the prosperous age. It will be more lively and exciting with everyone's participation. Everyone is welcome to participate in more forum exchanges and discussions. Everyone pays attention to safety and knows how to respond to emergencies. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * News from the Ningbo Institute of Materials, Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Chinese Academy of Sciences has made important progress in seawater hydrogen production. As the most sustainable and truly carbon-free hydrogen energy production route, green hydrogen is becoming the focus of global hydrogen energy development. However, the shortage of fresh water resources will seriously restrict the development of "green hydrogen" technology. The ocean is the largest hydrogen mine on earth. Producing hydrogen from seawater can directly avoid the shortage of fresh water resources and is of great importance to the development of the hydrogen energy industry. However, the development of seawater hydrogen production also faces many challenges. Chloride ions in seawater are oxidized into chlorine gas and hypochlorite, causing serious corrosion to the electrolytic cell. ； The deposition and adhesion of insoluble matter on the surface of the ion exchange membrane and catalyst leads to rapid deactivation of the catalyst. ； The concentration of hydrogen ions and hydroxyl ions in seawater is not high, which will significantly restrict the electrolysis efficiency. The Hydrogen Energy Laboratory of the Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, has developed a cathode that is practical, low-cost, and scalable in response to the high requirements for cathodes under industrial current density conditions for seawater electrolysis to produce hydrogen. It can electrolyze seawater for hydrogen production stably for a long time at industrial current densities. The study proposes an immersion-electrodeposition method that is easily repeatable, scalable, and easy to mass-produce, for synthesis of sizes up to 10 * 10 cm2 Cu2S@NiS@Ni/NiMo cathode. In alkaline simulated seawater and alkaline seawater, the composite cathode only requires overpotentials of 190mV and 250mV to reach a current density of 1000 mA cm-2. At the same time, the superaerophobic nanoarray structure accelerates the detachment of gas products and ensures the stability of active sites under high current conditions. At the same time, in the fluctuation test that simulates new energy power supply, the electrode can still remain stable during 1,500 hours of operation.