Supersolidophobic Pt catalyst for long-term natural seawater electrolysis with hydrogen production and magnesium extraction.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 41387438.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-025-66473-6 and PMC identifier 12749628.
- Licence recorded as CC BY-NC-ND.
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Abstract
The electrochemical synthesis of solid compounds is a critical emerging area in electrocatalysis; however, a major challenge is still remaining on severe catalysts scaling driven by strong solid-solid interactions, giving rise to rapid electrode deactivation. In this study, for the example of simultaneous synthesis of Mg(OH)<sub>2</sub> and H<sub>2</sub> from natural seawater electrolysis, we demonstrate that Pt catalyst with surface-coordinated halogens (F, Cl, Br, I) can alleviate this scaling effect (i.e., solidophobicity) by like-charge repulsion and thus regulating the local environment. Specifically, Pt-I coordination results in supersolidophobicity, achieving a successful extraction of Mg(OH)<sub>2</sub> ( > 99% purity) while stably producing H<sub>2</sub> (under 100 mA cm<sup>-2</sup> for over 5000 hours). A combination of experimental and theoretical studies reveals that, due to the like charge repulsion between I<sup>-</sup> and in situ generated OH<sup>-</sup>, the Pt-I catalyst regulates the surface pH gradient which increases the distance from the electrode surface to the Mg(OH)<sub>2</sub> nucleus (>4 μm) and facilitates homogeneous nucleation. Additionally, the scalability of the Pt-I catalyst, along with the techno-economic analysis and life cycle assessment of the natural seawater electrolysis technology are systematically demonstrated.