All articles of topic seawater

In Australia, researchers have succeeded in producing hydrogen directly from seawater. For this, they used a new catalyst material that is much more resistant to saltwater than conventionally used media. Scientists at the University of Adelaide, Nankai University and Kent State University coated the electrodes consisting of cobalt oxide with a low-cost Lewis acid layer, which then withstood aggressive attacks by the salt for a sufficiently long time. Instead of iron(III) chloride, boron trifluoride and CO₂, they decided on chromium(III) oxide (Cr₂O₃) – a widely used coating material for applications especially in the printing and paper industry, the pump and textile industry and for mechanical sealing systems.

Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe and is a renewable energy source, so it’s no surprise that people are interested in feasible ways to produce more. A particular area of focus involves creating hydrogen from seawater. Here’s a closer look at recent progress in that area.

A consortium has shown that it’s possible to extract climate-neutral hydrogen from seawater. Involved in the SEA2H2 project are automotive and industrial supplier Schaeffler, the startup Hydron Energy, which joined the Schaeffler Group in summer 2021, and Wageningen Food & Biobased Research, or WFBR for short, which is in turn part of Wageningen University.