Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

CTOnews.com news on December 1, hydrogen production from electrolysis of water is an important source of hydrogen energy. However, freshwater resources are scarce, and complex components of seawater need to be purified and then electrolyzed to produce hydrogen. Now the Chinese research team has solved the problem of direct electrolysis of seawater to produce hydrogen, which is expected to form a new global strategic industry of "marine green hydrogen" created by China.

According to the official account of Shenzhen University, on November 30, Academician Xie Heping and the doctoral team of Shenzhen University / Sichuan University, with Shenzhen University as the first unit, published the research results entitled "A membrane-based seawater electrolyser for hydrogen generation" on Nature on the 30th. From the new idea of the combination of physical mechanics and electrochemistry for the first time, this study establishes a new principle and technology of hydrogen production by direct electrolysis of seawater without desalination driven by phase transition migration. Completely isolate seawater ions and achieve a breakthrough in high efficient hydrogen production by in-situ electrolysis of seawater without desalination process, no side reaction and no extra energy consumption (that is, using seawater as pure water and direct in-situ electrolysis of hydrogen in seawater) The problem of hydrogen production by direct electrolysis of seawater has been solved.

The principle of direct hydrogen production by direct electrolysis of seawater without desalination driven by phase transition migration green zero carbon hydrogen energy is an important direction of energy development in the future. With the explosive growth of hydrogen energy, it is estimated that the annual demand for hydrogen in China will reach 130 million tons by 2060, and about 1.17 billion tons of pure water for electrolysis will be consumed at that time. 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, and asking for water from the sea is an important direction for the development of hydrogen energy in the future. However, due to the complex composition of seawater (about 92 chemical elements), hydrogen production from seawater is faced with many difficulties and challenges. Desalination before hydrogen production is the most mature technology path for hydrogen production from seawater at present, and large-scale demonstration projects have been carried out in many countries around the world. However, this kind of technology relies heavily on large-scale desalination equipment, and the technological process is complex and takes up a lot of land resources, which further increases the cost of hydrogen production and the difficulty of project construction. In the early 1970s, scientists asked whether it was possible to produce hydrogen by direct electrolysis of seawater. Over the past half a century, well-known research teams at home and abroad, such as Stanford University in the United States, the National Scientific Research Center of France, the University of Adelaide in Australia, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, have carried out a large number of explorations and studies by means of catalyst engineering and membrane material science. the aim is to solve the problems of chlorine evolution side reaction, calcium and magnesium precipitation and catalyst deactivation in hydrogen production by direct electrolysis of seawater. However, there has been no breakthrough theory and principle to completely avoid the impact of complex components of seawater on hydrogen production by electrolysis, and the principle and technology of large-scale, efficient and stable hydrogen production by direct electrolysis of seawater is still a blank in the world.

Academician Xie Heping put forward a new idea of combining physical mechanics with electrochemistry to solve the problems and challenges of direct electrolysis of seawater to produce hydrogen, thus creatively creating a new principle and technology of direct electrolysis of seawater without desalination. Based on the ingenious combination of physical and mechanical processes such as molecular diffusion and interfacial phase equilibrium with electrochemical reaction, a theoretical model of hydrogen production by direct electrolysis driven by phase change migration is established. the effect mechanism of interfacial pressure difference on spontaneous phase transition mass transfer in seawater under micron air gap path is revealed, and a dynamic self-regulating stable electrolysis hydrogen production method based on electrochemical reaction and seawater migration is formed. It has solved the problem of harmful corrosion, which has perplexed the field of hydrogen production by seawater electrolysis for half a century, and has applied for a patent.

At the same time, Academician Xie Heping's team developed the world's first 400 L / h technology and equipment for hydrogen production by in-situ direct electrolysis of seawater, which operated continuously for more than 3200 hours in the seawater of Shenzhen Bay, convincingly realizing a stable and large-scale hydrogen production process from seawater. In addition, the team further developed acidic and alkaline solid gel electrolytes to show that the phase transition migration strategy is suitable for different electrolyte materials, and is expected to develop iteratively with PEM and AEM electrolysis technologies. It is reported that this principle and technology can be explored and extended to the direct in-situ hydrogen production of diversified water resources (such as river water, waste water, salt lakes, etc.), providing new ideas for the enrichment and concentration of resources and energy production.

Large-scale technical equipment and stability of hydrogen production by direct electrolysis of seawater without desalination on a large scale and the multidisciplinary theory of "hydrogen production by direct electrolysis of seawater without desalination" is an original principle and technological breakthrough independently developed in China, which opens up a new path for hydrogen production from seawater all over the world. This technology can integrate "utilization of renewable energy such as offshore wind power-utilization of seawater resources-hydrogen production", and is expected to form a new mode of hydrogen production by in-situ seawater direct electrolysis without desalination, no additional catalyst engineering, no seawater transport and no pollution treatment. in a real sense, the inexhaustible "seawater resources" will be transformed into "seawater energy". In the future, this technology can build an integrated in-situ seawater hydrogen production plant combined with offshore renewable energy, which is expected to become the key to the large-scale development of far-reaching marine renewable power. accelerate the formation of China's original "marine green hydrogen" global strategic industry with multi-energy complementarity.

Nature reviewers spoke highly of the study: "this work provides an attractive strategy to use non-potable water for socially and ecologically sustainable fuel production. I think this is a major breakthrough!"

Nature review experts commented on the results: "few papers can convincingly achieve large-scale and stable hydrogen production from seawater, but the work of this paper has done just that. They have perfectly solved the harmful corrosivity, a long-standing problem in the field of hydrogen production from seawater, and will open the door to low-cost fuel production and hopefully promote change to a more sustainable world!"

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