Water electrolysis using diverse water resources

28 Mar 2024 10.30 AM - 12.00 PM CBE-SR3(N1.2-B3-18) Current Students, Industry/Academic Partners
Organised by:
Cheryl Chua

Abstract

Basic study on diverging aqueous solutions for water electrolysis is effective not only expanding search space in materials and reaction conditions, but also helping maintenance of existing technologies. For long-life operation of current water electrolysis systems, ultra-pure water is used to avoid performance degradation caused by impurity ions. To further reduce the cost of green hydrogen in the future, it will be effective to gain a detailed quantitative understanding of the effects of each impurity contained in the water. Electrolyte engineering is the key in this context, allowing use of non-extreme pH. For example, it is expected to establish a system that can achieve a long service life even when lightly treated seawater is used. Typical impurity ions in seawater are chloride ions, and the competition between oxygen production and its oxidation reaction is a problem to be solved. This presentation describes the development of highly efficient non-precious metal based electrocatalysts at non-extreme pH and the strategy and results for selective oxygen production in the presence of chloride ions.


Biography
Prof. Kazuhiro Takanabe is Professor in the Department of Chemical System Engineering at The University of Tokyo since 2018. He previously worked at the University of Twente in the Netherlands (2002-2004), at the University of California at Berkeley (2006-2008), at the University of Tokyo (2008-2010), and at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) (2010-2018). He is currently Editor of the Journal of Catalysis since September 2017. 
His research topics address the important dynamic transition of energy systems using conventional fossil fuel to new renewable energy; including electrocatalysis for water splitting and CO2 reduction, photocatalysis for water splitting, natural gas conversion, metal cluster chemistries, and ammonia synthesis via innovative technology.  His research group not only develops novel catalysts but also studies kinetics and reaction mechanisms at molecular level.  The research aims to bridge the gap among the fields of thermal-, electro-, and photo-catalysis, which are addressed through world-wide collaborations to achieve practical industrialization. 

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