Hydrogen Production from Seawater electrolysis using Highly Selective Earth-Abundant Catalysts and Membraneless Electrolyzer
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Qatar is committed to lowering its carbon footprint and making a smooth transition to a knowledge-based and post-carbon economy. Diversifying energy resources, maximizing utilization of the abundant solar energy, and investing in advanced technologies for carbon-free renewable energy production is the key to achieve this goal. Electric power from renewable solar energy presents opportunities for the country to enhance its future energy mix and reduce carbon emissions. Yet, industry and transport will still require combustible fuels for many purposes. Such needs could be met with hydrogen (H2), which itself can be produced by water electrolysis using renewable electricity. H2 is of central importance in key industrial processes such as oil refining, and is widely used as a feedstock in the production of various chemicals such as ammonia and methanol. In addition, its compelling properties as an energy carrier make H2 a promising candidate for future energy storage and transportation. Water electrolysis offers an attractive approach for the renewable production of carbon-free H2 because it needs only water and electricity as inputs. H2 production from water electrolysis is emission-free as long as renewable energy is used. It is also a promising approach for storing intermittent renewable energy such as solar or wind power. Alkaline and polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) electrolyzers are the two main technologies for splitting water into H2 and oxygen (O2). Both technologies are sensitive to water impurities and thus require purified water, which is usually obtained by purification of fresh water resources. However, fresh water is very limited in Qatar and the costly energy-intensive seawater desalination plants provide the main water supply for domestic and industrial uses. Therefore, using fresh water is not a viable option for water electrolysis in Qatar and many countries worldwide that face increasing fresh water shortage. Thus, if seawater or reject brine from desalination plants can be used directly as water source, it would provide a nearly unlimited water supply for H2 production. Seawater is a natural electrolyte solution due to its high ionic conductivity. Brine would be more desirable because it has higher ionic conductivity since it is a concentrated product of seawater..........
