Solidophobic Surface for Electrochemical Extraction of High-Valued Mg(OH)<sub>2</sub> Coupled with H<sub>2</sub> Production from Seawater
Yi Li, Xu Chen, Yingjie Wen, Haocheng Chen, Sixie Zhang, Hao Yang, Wenbo Li, Lihui Zhou, Beibei Xu, Wenwen Xu, Wanbing Guan, Sheng Dai, Zhiyi Lu
Abstract
A significant challenge in direct seawater electrolysis is the rapid deactivation of the cathode due to the large scaling of Mg(OH) 2 . Herein, we synthesized a Pt-coated highly disordered NiCu alloy (Pt-NiCu alloy) electrode with superior solidophobic behavior, enabling stable hydrogen generation (100 mA cm –2, >1000 h durability) and simultaneous production of Mg(OH) 2 (>99.0% purity) in electrolyte enriched with Mg 2+ and Ca 2+ . The unconventional solidophobic property primarily stems from the high surface energy of the NiCu alloy substrate, which facilitates the adsorption of surface water and thereby compels the bulk formation of Mg(OH) 2 via homogeneous nucleation. The discovery of this solidophobic electrode will revolutionarily simplify the existing techniques for seawater electrolysis and increase the economic viability for seawater electrolysis.