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A team of researchers led by professors from the University of Adelaide's School of Chemical Engineering has split seawater without pre-treatment to produce green hydrogen.
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The seawater was split with nearly 100% efficiency to produce green hydrogen by electrolysis.
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The team used a non-precious and cheap catalyst, cobalt oxide with chromium oxide, in a commercial electrolyzer.
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The research was published in the journal Nature Energy.
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Seawater was used as a feedstock without the need for pre-treatment processes like reverse osmosis desolation, purification, or alkalization.
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The performance of the commercial electrolyzer with the team's catalysts running in seawater is close to the performance of platinum/iridium catalysts running in highly purified deionized water.
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Seawater is a practical natural feedstock electrolyte for regions with long coastlines and abundant sunlight.
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The team will work on scaling up the system for use in commercial processes such as hydrogen generation for fuel cells and ammonia synthesis.
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The future of cobalt is uncertain as it is not abundant and often sourced from ore gathering by small children.
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The power source used in the process is not discussed, but the reduced water source cost and not using precious metals are promising developments.