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Efficient osmosis-powered production of green hydrogen

Nature Sustainability (2024)Cite this article

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Abstract

Hydrogen, a clean energy carrier, has emerged as a promising solution to decarbonize the power sector and move towards a more sustainable future. However, the heavy dependence of its production on fossil fuels highlights the pressing need to prioritize the acquisition of green hydrogen from renewable sources, ideally without any additional energy input. Here we utilize the osmotic energy between seawater and freshwater to generate hydrogen directly. With a tandem of high-performance ion exchange membrane and electrocatalytic electrode, our design serves to harvest osmotic energy and drive hydrogen production. Notably, the integrated device demonstrates a consistent alkaline hydrogen evolution rate exceeding 300 l m−2 h−1 for more than 12 days under the artificial salinity gradient. Our study presents a viable pathway for hydrogen production through renewable sources.

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Fig. 1: Superassembly of the integrated device for osmosis-powered hydrogen generation.
Fig. 2: Characterization of hybrid membrane and electrode.
Fig. 3: Ion transport and osmotic energy conversion of the hybrid membrane.
Fig. 4: Performance assessment of the hybrid electrode and integrated device.
Fig. 5: Mechanism of ion transport, regulation of Pd atom assembly and operation of the integrated device.

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Acknowledgements

B.K. acknowledges funding from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21974029, 3022105042), the Yiwu Research Institute Program of Fudan University (20-1-28), the Yantai Science and Technology Innovation Development Plan (No. 2022ZDCX015), and the construction project of Shanghai Key Laboratory of Molecular Imaging (18DZ2260400). We thank O. Terasaki (ShanghaiTech University) for valuable suggestions and comments.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, Laboratory of Advanced Materials, Shanghai Key Lab of Molecular Catalysis and Innovative Materials, iChEM (Collaborative Innovation Centre of Chemistry for Energy Materials), Fudan University, Shanghai, P. R. China

    Qirui Liang, Yanan Huang, Yaxin Guo, Xin Zhang, Xiaomeng Hu, Hui Zeng, Dongyuan Zhao & Biao Kong

  2. Qingdao Innovation and Development Center, Harbin Engineering University, Qingdao, P. R. China

    Qirui Liang

  3. Shandong Research Institute, Fudan University, Shandong, P. R. China

    Qirui Liang & Biao Kong

  4. Key Laboratory of Advanced Drug Delivery Systems of Zhejiang Province, College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, P. R. China

    Hui Zeng

  5. School of Chemical Engineering and Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

    Kang Liang

  6. CAS Key Laboratory of Bio-Inspired Materials and Interfacial Science Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, P. R. China

    Lei Jiang

  7. Shandong Laboratory of Green Chemistry and Functional Materials, Zibo, Shandong, P. R. China

    Biao Kong

  8. Yiwu Research, Institute of Fudan University, Yiwu, Zhejiang, P. R. China

    Biao Kong

Authors
  1. Qirui Liang
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  2. Yanan Huang
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  10. Biao Kong
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Contributions

B.K. conceived the work and directed the project. Q.L. and B.K. designed the experiments and drafted the initial manuscript. Y.H., Y.G. and X.Z. helped with computational calculations. X.H. and H.Z. contributed to experimental data collection and analysis. B.K., L.J., D.Z. and K.L. supervised the research, discussed the results, provided useful suggestions on experiment designs, and helped revise the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Biao Kong.

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Nature Sustainability thanks Jia Zhu and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

Supplementary Figs. 1–56, Notes 1–4 and Tables 1–8.

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Source Data Fig. 2

XPS results, source data.

Source Data Fig. 3

Electrochemical results, source data.

Source Data Fig. 4

Electrochemical results, source data.

Source Data Fig. 5

Simulation parameter, source data.

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Liang, Q., Huang, Y., Guo, Y. et al. Efficient osmosis-powered production of green hydrogen. Nat Sustain (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-024-01317-7

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