IIT Madras develops a new method to make hydrogen from seawater

Category : Science and Tech Published on: June 14 2023

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Researchers at IIT Madras have discovered a new way to make hydrogen from sea water.
IIT-Madras physics department researchers have created key elements for a highly efficient, economically viable method of electrolyzing saltwater to produce hydrogen. The findings were released in the ACS Applied Energy Materials journal.
The traditional alkaline water electrolyzer method uses fresh water for electrolysis, consumes a lot of energy, and necessitates an expensive oxide-polymer separator.
The IIT-Madras team created an electrolyzer that is more environmentally friendly and utilises less freshwater by using alkaline salt water as the electrolyte rather than pure or fresh water.
To prevent corrosion, which is a frequent problem when using seawater, they employed a carbon-based support material for the electrodes instead of metals.
To increase the production of both hydrogen and oxygen even in the presence of impurities and chemical deposition on the electrodes, the researchers designed and created transition metal-based catalysts that can catalyse both the oxygen and hydrogen evolution events.
Traditional alkaline water electrolysis technology is known to be energy-intensive, requiring an expensive oxide-polymer separator and fresh water for the process.
However, the IIT-Madras researchers have managed to address these challenges by introducing simple, scalable, and cost-effective alternatives that exhibit high efficiency in splitting seawater and producing hydrogen.