Hydrogen production from the air

Jining Guo; Yuecheng Zhang; Ali Zavabeti; Kaifei Chen; Yalou Guo; Guoping Hu; Xiaolei Fan; Gang Kevin Li

doi:10.1038/s41467-022-32652-y

Hydrogen production from the air

Nat Commun. 2022 Sep 6;13(1):5046. doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-32652-y.

Authors

Jining Guo¹, Yuecheng Zhang¹, Ali Zavabeti¹, Kaifei Chen¹, Yalou Guo¹, Guoping Hu^{2

3}, Xiaolei Fan^{4

5}, Gang Kevin Li⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemical Engineering, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Vic, 3010, Australia.
² Department of Chemical Engineering, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Vic, 3010, Australia. gphu@gia.cas.cn.
³ Ganjiang Innovation Academy, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ganzhou, Jiangxi, 341000, China. gphu@gia.cas.cn.
⁴ Department of Chemical Engineering, School of Engineering, The University of Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PL, UK. xiaolei.fan@manchester.ac.uk.
⁵ Nottingham Ningbo China Beacons of Excellence Research and Innovation Institute, 211 Xingguang Road, 315191, Ningbo, China. xiaolei.fan@manchester.ac.uk.
⁶ Department of Chemical Engineering, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Vic, 3010, Australia. li.g@unimelb.edu.au.

Abstract

Green hydrogen produced by water splitting using renewable energy is the most promising energy carrier of the low-carbon economy. However, the geographic mismatch between renewables distribution and freshwater availability poses a significant challenge to its production. Here, we demonstrate a method of direct hydrogen production from the air, namely, in situ capture of freshwater from the atmosphere using hygroscopic electrolyte and electrolysis powered by solar or wind with a current density up to 574 mA cm^-2. A prototype of such has been established and operated for 12 consecutive days with a stable performance at a Faradaic efficiency around 95%. This so-called direct air electrolysis (DAE) module can work under a bone-dry environment with a relative humidity of 4%, overcoming water supply issues and producing green hydrogen sustainably with minimal impact to the environment. The DAE modules can be easily scaled to provide hydrogen to remote, (semi-) arid, and scattered areas.