Natural hydrogen (H2 ) has gained considerable attentions as a renewable energy resource to mitigate the globally increasing environmental concerns. Low-temperature serpentinization (<200 °C) as a typical water-rock reaction is a major source of the natural H2 . However, the reaction mechanism and the controlling step to product H2 remained unclear, which hinders the further utilization of natural H2 . Herein, we demonstrated that the H2 production rate could be determined by the Fe(OH)2 oxidation during low-temperature serpentinization. Moreover, the co-existence of Ni2+ could largely enhance the H2 production kinetics. With the addition of only 1 % Ni2+ , the H2 production rate was remarkably enhanced by about two orders of magnitude at 90 °C. D2 O isotopic experiment and theoretical calculations revealed that the enhanced H2 production kinetics could be attributed to the catalytic role of Ni2+ to promote the reduction of H2 O.
Keywords: Fe(OH)2 oxidation; hydrogen production; low-temperature serpentinization; nickel; water reduction.
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