Efficient and durable seawater electrolysis with a V2O3-protected catalyst

Huashuai Hu; Zhaorui Zhang; Lijia Liu; Xiangli Che; Jiacheng Wang; Ye Zhu; J Paul Attfield; Minghui Yang

doi:10.1126/sciadv.adn7012

Efficient and durable seawater electrolysis with a V₂O₃-protected catalyst

Sci Adv. 2024 May 17;10(20):eadn7012. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adn7012. Epub 2024 May 17.

Authors

Huashuai Hu¹, Zhaorui Zhang¹, Lijia Liu², Xiangli Che³, Jiacheng Wang⁴, Ye Zhu³, J Paul Attfield⁵, Minghui Yang¹

Affiliations

¹ School of Environmental Science and Technology, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China.
² Department of Chemistry, Western University, 1151 Richmond Street, London, ON N6A 5B7, Canada.
³ Department of Applied Physics, Research Institute for Smart Energy, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Hong Kong, China.
⁴ Zhejiang Key Laboratory for Island Green Energy and New Materials, Institute of Electrochemistry, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Taizhou University, Taizhou 318000, Zhejiang, China.
⁵ Centre for Science at Extreme Conditions and School of Chemistry, University of Edinburgh, King's Buildings, Mayfield Road, Edinburgh, UK.

Abstract

The ocean, a vast hydrogen reservoir, holds potential for sustainable energy and water development. Developing high-performance electrocatalysts for hydrogen production under harsh seawater conditions is challenging. Here, we propose incorporating a protective V₂O₃ layer to modulate the microcatalytic environment and create in situ dual-active sites consisting of low-loaded Pt and Ni₃N. This catalyst demonstrates an ultralow overpotential of 80 mV at 500 mA cm^-2, a mass activity 30.86 times higher than Pt-C and maintains at least 500 hours in seawater. Moreover, the assembled anion exchange membrane water electrolyzers (AEMWE) demonstrate superior activity and durability even under demanding industrial conditions. In situ localized pH analysis elucidates the microcatalytic environmental regulation mechanism of the V₂O₃ layer. Its role as a Lewis acid layer enables the sequestration of excess OH^- ions, mitigate Cl^- corrosion, and alkaline earth salt precipitation. Our catalyst protection strategy by using V₂O₃ presents a promising and cost-effective approach for large-scale sustainable green hydrogen production.