Catalyst for Industrial‐Scale Seawater Electrolysis: Inhibit Active Metal Dissolution and Chlorine Corrosion
Peng Wang, Jie Zheng, Yuyang Li, Qiaofu Shi, Jun Zhang, Yong Wan, Mang Niu, Yusuke Yamauchi, Yun‐Ze Long
Abstract
Abstract Alkaline seawater electrolysis is a promising technology for sustainable green hydrogen production. However, active metal dissolution and chlorine‐induced corrosion during long‐term, industrial‐scale operation pose critical challenges to catalyst stability. Here, a surface engineering strategy is reported using phytic acid (PA) as a molecular “armor” to construct highly durable oxygen evolution reaction (OER) catalysts. Comprehensive characterization and density functional theory (DFT) calculations reveal that surface modification with PO 4 3− groups not only facilitates surface reconstruction to form NiOOH active sites, but also optimizes the adsorption–desorption dynamics of key reaction intermediates, thereby enhancing catalytic performance. Importantly, the PO 4 3− layer suppresses the adsorption of chloride ions at active sites, significantly improving corrosion resistance under harsh seawater conditions. As a result, the catalyst delivers a current density of 100 mA cm −2 at a low overpotential of 208 mV in alkaline seawater, maintaining stable performance over 1500 h. When integrated as the anode in a proton exchange membrane electrolyzer, it supports operation at 1 A cm −2 with a cell voltage of only 2.18 V, exhibiting no performance degradation over 500 h.