{"id":168211,"date":"2025-09-29T07:29:00","date_gmt":"2025-09-29T05:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/?p=168211"},"modified":"2025-09-23T14:35:32","modified_gmt":"2025-09-23T12:35:32","slug":"chung-ang-university-develops-chloride-resistant-ru-nanocatalysts-for-sustainable-hydrogen-production-from-seawater","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/chung-ang-university-develops-chloride-resistant-ru-nanocatalysts-for-sustainable-hydrogen-production-from-seawater\/","title":{"rendered":"Chung-Ang University Develops Chloride-Resistant Ru Nanocatalysts for Sustainable Hydrogen Production from Seawater"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
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Using chloride-resistant Ru nanocatalysts, researchers achieved efficient hydrogen evolution directly from seawater. The crystalline\/amorphous heterostructure prevents catalyst corrosion and ensures long-term stability, paving the way for sustainable hydrogen generation. \u00a9 Chung-Ang University<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Growing global demand for clean energy and climate change concerns have intensified the search for sustainable alternatives. Hydrogen emerges as a promising solution due to its high energy density and zero-carbon emissions. Among production methods, alkaline water electrolysis is efficient and environmentally friendly; however, its dependence on freshwater limits large-scale implementation. Seawater electrolysis offers a practical alternative by tapping Earth’s abundant water resources, but high chloride concentrations accelerate catalyst corrosion and reduce efficiency, posing significant challenges for sustainable hydrogen generation.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To address this, a research team led by Assistant Professor\u00a0Haeseong Jang\u00a0at Chung-Ang University and Professor\u00a0Xien Liu\u00a0at\u00a0Qingdao\u00a0University of Science and Technology, developed a robust and cost-effective electrocatalyst capable of high-performance hydrogen evolution in saline environments. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Dr. Jang<\/strong> shares the motivation behind this study: “Alkaline water electrolysis, though economically attractive due to inexpensive non-precious metal catalysts, faces significant challenges, including slow hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) kinetics and corrosion problems in real-world environments that hinder commercialization. Our research is driven by the mission to develop economically viable and stable clean hydrogen production technology to overcome these critical barriers.” <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Their findings were made available online in\u00a0Advanced Functional Materials<\/em><\/a>\u00a0on\u00a0August 7, 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They designed a ruthenium (Ru)-based catalyst that overcomes limitations of conventional platinum or Ru catalysts in alkaline and seawater electrolysis. They employed a g-C3<\/sub>N4<\/sub>-mediated pyrolysis strategy to synthesize nitrogen-doped carbon-supported Ru nanoclusters with a crystalline\u2013amorphous heterostructure (a\/c-Ru@NC). g-C3<\/sub>N4 <\/sub>serves as a nitrogen source and a scaffold that anchors Ru\u00b3\u207a ions through N-coordination sites. During pyrolysis, reductive gases released from g-C3<\/sub>N4<\/sub> reduce Ru\u00b3\u207a in situ, while Ru\u2013N bonding disrupts atomic order in the core, forming an amorphous Ru phase. Surface Ru atoms simultaneously crystallize, producing a stable crystalline\u2013amorphous junction. This architecture ensures ultrafine Ru dispersion, electron-deficient active sites, and compressive lattice strain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Electrochemical testing demonstrated outstanding HER performance. In 1.0 M KOH, a\/c-Ru@NC exhibited an overpotential of just 15 mV at 10 mA cm\u207b\u00b2. Durability was confirmed with stable operation over 250 hours. Crucially, the catalyst exhibited exceptional chloride corrosion resistance with only 8 mV performance degradation and stable operation over 100 hours in simulated seawater, outperforming commercial Pt\/C and Ru\/C.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The study highlights several advantages. The a\/c-Ru@NC synergistically combines abundant active sites with optimized electron transport. The nitrogen-doped carbon support prevents Ru oxidation and agglomeration. The overall design provides exceptional chloride-corrosion resistance. Together, these features enable cost-effective, scalable hydrogen production directly from seawater. This approach reduces reliance on freshwater and fossil fuels while supporting decarbonization across energy-intensive sectors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Prof. Liu<\/strong> emphasizes, “Our breakthrough enables seawater electrolysis for direct hydrogen production from seawater using chloride-resistant catalysts, opening up vast oceanic resources for clean energy generation.” He adds, “The enhanced alkaline water electrolysis systems demonstrate remarkable economic viability with 37-fold higher mass activity compared to commercial Pt catalysts, making hydrogen production significantly more cost-effective.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

In conclusion, this work establishes a g-C3<\/sub>N4<\/sub>-mediated heterostructuring strategy that simultaneously addresses activity, stability, and corrosion challenges in Ru-based electrocatalysts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Dr. Jang<\/strong> notes, “Our technology will accelerate climate change mitigation efforts by enabling rapid decarbonization of transportation, industrial, and power generation sectors.” <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

By enabling efficient and durable seawater electrolysis, this study provides a blueprint for sustainable hydrogen generation from oceanic resources, paving the way for large-scale, green hydrogen infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Reference<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Title of original paper:<\/td>g-C3<\/sub>N4<\/sub>-Mediated Synthesis of Ru Crystalline\/Amorphous
Heterostructures on N-Doped Carbon for Efficient and
Chloride-Resistant Alkaline HER<\/td><\/tr>
Journal:<\/td>Advanced Functional Materials<\/em><\/td><\/tr>
DOI:<\/td>https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1002\/adfm.202517551<\/a><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Growing global demand for clean energy and climate change concerns have intensified the search for sustainable alternatives. Hydrogen emerges as a promising solution due to its high energy density and zero-carbon emissions. Among production methods, alkaline water electrolysis is efficient and environmentally friendly; however, its dependence on freshwater limits large-scale implementation. Seawater electrolysis offers a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":168228,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","nova_meta_subtitle":"A breakthrough in sustainable hydrogen generation from natural resources","footnotes":""},"categories":[5572],"tags":[12535,10416,10630,13461],"supplier":[23402,13280],"class_list":["post-168211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bio-based","tag-catalysts","tag-circulareconomy","tag-hydrogen","tag-pyrolysis","supplier-chung-ang-university","supplier-qingdao-university"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=168211"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168211\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/168228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=168211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=168211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=168211"},{"taxonomy":"supplier","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/supplier?post=168211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}