What are the prospects for making green hydrogen straight from seawater?

On the west bank of China’s Pearl River estuary, in Zhuhai, researchers are using renewable energy and seawater to shrink the petrochemical industry’s carbon footprint, via ‘green’ hydrogen. Scientists from Beijing University of Chemical Technology (BUCT) and the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) are building a pilot plant to directly split seawater into oxygen and hydrogen.

This is a massive scientific challenge because seawater can be corrosive and chemically complex. Meanwhile, wind and photovoltaic power sources run intermittently, explains BUCT’s Xiaoming Sun. In a Nature paper published in March, Sun’s team demonstrated a catalyst capable of resisting the ocean’s corrosive power and working as an electrode in a seawater electrolysis cell. This is especially important because during intermittent operation chemical reactions occur that could make the electrode less effective.