⚡ Water electrolysis

Water electrolysis is a technology that uses electrical energy to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. This process involves the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) at the cathode and the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) at the anode. It is considered a crucial pathway for producing high-purity green hydrogen. Producing no carbon emissions, it can be effectively integrated with intermittent renewable energy sources like solar or wind power, converting excess electricity into chemical energy for storage. It is a core technology for realizing a future hydrogen economy and net-zero emission goals. Our laboratory is dedicated to developing highly efficient, low-cost non-precious and low-precious metal electrocatalysts for water electrolysis. Our recent major breakthroughs include: utilizing pulse electrodeposition to synthesize cauliflower-like NiMoP nanospheres on titanium mesh, which exhibits an ultra-low HER overpotential (only 50.3 mV at 10 mA cm-2) and excellent chloride corrosion resistance in harsh alkaline seawater; developing barnacle-like NiCuP porous catalysts that significantly enhance OER activity and full-cell stability; and pioneering the synthesis of an atomically dispersed ruthenium single-atom catalyst (Ru-O/N-C-NH3), which delivers an OER mass activity nearly three orders of magnitude higher than that of commercial iridium oxide. Additionally, we proposed a surface reconstruction strategy to generate highly active Ni(OH)2/NiOOH heterojunctions on Ni-grafted TiO2 nanotubes, successfully overcoming the durability challenges associated with seawater electrolysis.