> International team introduced an acid layer over catalysts to directly electrolyse seawater to produce the renewable energy. Existing technologies need high-purity water to create hydrogen, so the researchers looked to ‘an almost infinite resource’

Imagine hydrogen fueling islands every 2-300 miles across the ocean. No more bunker fuel.

China is taking hydrogen very seriously

>Bloomberg: China Has Set It Sights on Cornering Another Green Energy Market: Hydrogen
https://archive.is/HOWYl

>Guangzhou Sets Out Plan for USD1.4 Billion Fuel Cell Vehicle Industry by 2025. The city aims to establish itself as a leading domestic development and manufacturing hub for FCVs, covering the whole industry chain from core parts to vehicle assembly
https://www.yicaiglobal.com/news/guangzhou-sets-out-plan-for-usd14-billion-fuel-cell-vehicle-industry-by-2025

[removed]

This looks very promising, is there any information on how this might affect sea life?

It still uses electrolysis which is power inefficient, the only benefit is the potential usage of sea water, which comes with higher risk of corrosion and organic pollution. So it is really cost of filtered water vs boiled or solar stilled water.

The benefits from this are neglegible small. The problem is not purefication of seawater, the problem is the staggering amount of energy needed for electrolysis. Seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) takes basically no energy compared to splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen.

>As commercial water electrolysis requires a significant amount of energy compared to SWRO, the capital and operating costs of SWRO are found to be negligible. This leads to an insignificant increase in levelized cost of H2 (<0.1 $ per kg H2) and CO2 emissions (<0.1%) from a SWRO-PEM coupled process.

https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2021/ee/d1ee00870f

[deleted]

Is this a less carbon intensive way of releasing H from its bond with O? The article does not mention the amount or source of energy required.

Cool, cool. And how much waste does this produce? How much CO2?

Because getting hydrogen from water isn't really the problem. It's that it's wasteful and polluting to produce and transport and potentially dangerous to store.

I know it's at the behest of oil execs wanting to find something they can corner the market on (the production and supply side of it) to stay wealthy as the world tries to get out of their grips... but even so, why are we still wasting time on hydrogen fuel?

Pointless. When it comes to needs of electrolysis, there is no shortage of freshwater. If you want to use seawater just RO it, the cost is negligible compared to what you need to electrolize it.

It's got a higher energy density than lithium ion batteries, and as it can technically be produced without emitting hydrogen, it's a good fuel for planes etc that can't really carry really have batteries . And in a future with abundant fusion energy, electrolysis could be feasible, allowing for green air travel that doesn't have to stop frequently to recharge/swap out batteries

If we get to a point where we aren't emitting greenhouse gases in order to get hydrogen from water, that might help... for some niche applications, such as airlines. Logistics is still a problem as is volitility and the energy required to store it under explosive pressure so that it has a decent energy density. And that's only if we don't have better options for airplanes (or maybe cargo ships) by the time creating hydrogen isn't as much of a pollutant. And assuming battery technology doesn't improve.

I wouldn't say airplanes are really a niche application

It's more efficient to just us the energy in electric vehicles. You also have to re-engineer our infrastructure for Hydrogen. It's not a liquid like gasoline, it's a gas like propane. We are right on the cusp of some major battery changes that will make the electric car an even better option.