Self-Powered Seawater Electrolysis Based on a Triboelectric Nanogenerator for Hydrogen Production
Baofeng Zhang, Chuguo Zhang, Yang Ou, Wei Yuan, Yuebo Liu, Lixia He, Yuexiao Hu, Zhihao Zhao, Linglin Zhou, Jie Wang, Zhong Lin Wang
Abstract
Water splitting for yielding high-purity hydrogen represents the ultimate choice to reduce carbon dioxide emission owing to the superior energy density and zero-pollution emission after combustion. However, the high electricity consumption and requirement of large quantities of pure water impede its large-scale application. Here, a triboelectric nanogenerator (W-TENG) converting offshore wind energy into electricity is proposed for commercial electric energy saving and cost reduction. By introducing PTFE/POM dielectric pairs with matched HOMO/LUMO band gap energy, a high charge density is achieved to promote the output of W-TENG. With the impedance matching design of transformers with the internal resistance of W-TENG, the output current is further enhanced from 1.42 mA to 54.5 mA with a conversion efficiency of more than 92.0%. Furthermore, benefiting from the high electrocatalytic activity (overpotential = 166 mV and Tafel slope = 181.2 mV dec–1) of a carbon paper supported NiCoP-MOF catalyst, natural seawater can be adopted as a resource for in situ hydrogen production without acid or alkaline additives. Therefore, the self-powered seawater electrolysis system achieves a H2 production rate as high as 1273.9 μL min–1 m–2 with a conversion efficiency of 78.9%, demonstrating a more practical strategy for conversion of wind energy into renewable hydrogen energy.