Efficient bubble/precipitate traffic enables stable seawater reduction electrocatalysis at industrial-level current densities

Jie Liang; Zhengwei Cai; Zixiao Li; Yongchao Yao; Yongsong Luo; Shengjun Sun; Dongdong Zheng; Qian Liu; Xuping Sun; Bo Tang

doi:10.1038/s41467-024-47121-x

Efficient bubble/precipitate traffic enables stable seawater reduction electrocatalysis at industrial-level current densities

Nat Commun. 2024 Apr 5;15(1):2950. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-47121-x.

Authors

Jie Liang^#^{1

2}, Zhengwei Cai^#¹, Zixiao Li², Yongchao Yao², Yongsong Luo², Shengjun Sun¹, Dongdong Zheng¹, Qian Liu³, Xuping Sun^{4

5

6}, Bo Tang^{7

8}

Affiliations

¹ College of Chemistry Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Shandong Normal University, Jinan, 250014, Shandong, China.
² Institute of Fundamental and Frontier Sciences, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 610054, Sichuan, China.
³ Institute for Advanced Study, Chengdu University, Chengdu, 610106, Sichuan, China.
⁴ College of Chemistry Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Shandong Normal University, Jinan, 250014, Shandong, China. xpsun@uestc.edu.cn.
⁵ Institute of Fundamental and Frontier Sciences, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 610054, Sichuan, China. xpsun@uestc.edu.cn.
⁶ High Altitude Medical Center, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610041, Sichuan, China. xpsun@uestc.edu.cn.
⁷ College of Chemistry Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Shandong Normal University, Jinan, 250014, Shandong, China. tangb@sdnu.edu.cn.
⁸ Laoshan Laboratory, Qingdao, 266237, Shandong, China. tangb@sdnu.edu.cn.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Seawater electroreduction is attractive for future H₂ production and intermittent energy storage, which has been hindered by aggressive Mg²⁺/Ca²⁺ precipitation at cathodes and consequent poor stability. Here we present a vital microscopic bubble/precipitate traffic system (MBPTS) by constructing honeycomb-type 3D cathodes for robust anti-precipitation seawater reduction (SR), which massively/uniformly release small-sized H₂ bubbles to almost every corner of the cathode to repel Mg²⁺/Ca²⁺ precipitates without a break. Noticeably, the optimal cathode with built-in MBPTS not only enables state-of-the-art alkaline SR performance (1000-h stable operation at -1 A cm^-2) but also is highly specialized in catalytically splitting natural seawater into H₂ with the greatest anti-precipitation ability. Low precipitation amounts after prolonged tests under large current densities reflect genuine efficacy by our MBPTS. Additionally, a flow-type electrolyzer based on our optimal cathode stably functions at industrially-relevant 500 mA cm^-2 for 150 h in natural seawater while unwaveringly sustaining near-100% H₂ Faradic efficiency. Note that the estimated price (~1.8 US$/kg_H2) is even cheaper than the US Department of Energy's goal price (2 US$/kg_H2).

Grants and funding

21927811/National Natural Science Foundation of China (National Science Foundation of China)