9 Feb 2024

Catalyst runs in seawater for 2,800 hours at about 1.25 A per square centimetre

Energy and storageClimate and environment
AI illustration · Illustrative scene, not a photograph of the specific device or experiment.

What was demonstrated

Fan and colleagues report, in Nature Sustainability (published online 9 February 2024), an earth-abundant layered double hydroxide electrocatalyst that sustained seawater electrolysis for over 2,800 hours at about 1.25 A per square centimetre. The authors attribute the stability to carbonate ions between the catalyst layers and graphene quantum dots on its surface, which reduce chloride adsorption and corrosion. In a separate photovoltaic-electrolysis device using the same catalyst for both electrodes, the authors report an 18.1% solar-to-hydrogen efficiency for overall seawater splitting and stability over 200 hours at a working current above 440 mA.

Why it matters

Long tests at high current density address one of the main durability questions for seawater electrolysis, which is whether a catalyst can survive chloride without a costly freshwater pretreatment step. This is a single laboratory study, so independent replication and full-system tests would be needed before it is treated as a general capability.

Caveats

  • The 2,800-hour figure is a catalyst test under the authors' experimental conditions. It does not show a complete electrolyser stack, pumps and membranes running for that period, and it does not report plant-scale operation or cost.
  • The abstract does not state the electrolyte composition, electrode area or cell voltage. The full text was behind a publisher login during this check, so the feed (natural seawater or an alkaline seawater mix) needs confirming before approval.
  • The 18.1% solar-to-hydrogen efficiency and the 200-hour test come from a different photovoltaic-electrolysis setup and should not be read as the same experiment as the 2,800-hour test.

Technology profiles

Sources

  1. peer reviewed paper
    Ultrastable electrocatalytic seawater splitting at ampere-level current density
    Rongli Fan, Changhao Liu, Zhonghua Li et al.. Nature Sustainability, 9 Feb 2024. DOI: 10.1038/s41893-023-01263-w.

Last reviewed 22 Oct 2026.