According to foreign media reports, researchers at Stanford University have proposed a new method of using seawater to produce hydrogen fuel.

　　Today, most hydrogen is produced from the cracking of methane, which produces large amounts of residual carbon dioxide, considered a major contributor to global warming. For decades, scientists have been studying how to cost-effectively convert water into hydrogen and oxygen through electrolysis.

　　Salt in seawater has always been a problem for electrolysers that separate water molecules. High concentrations of salt can corrode the metal electrodes that generate the electrolytic current. Scientists at Stanford University developed a new catalyst that integrates carbonate and sulfate molecules into the iron-nickel coating on the nickel anode. Carbonate and sulfate molecules have a high negative charge, which prevents chloride ions in the salt from penetrating the coating and corroding the electrode because molecules of the same charge repel each other.

　　The team successfully tested their prototype system using seawater from San Francisco Bay. During the experiments, the coated electrolyser was able to operate for more than 40 days even when the salt concentration was increased to three times that of seawater.

　　Existing methods of water splitting to produce hydrogen rely on pure water and are expensive. Freshwater supplies are now restricted in many parts of the world. Producing hydrogen for fuel cells by electrolyzing seawater would help solve this problem. Although this breakthrough does not solve all the challenges facing hydrogen-powered vehicles, such as establishing a sustainable and affordable hydrogen-powered distribution network. But if it becomes possible to produce hydrogen through electrolysis using renewable energy, the remaining problems could potentially be solved.

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