A team of Chinese scientists have developed a strategy utilising the energy between seawater and freshwater to efficiently generate “green” hydrogen.
Hydrogen, a clean energy, had emerged as a promising solution to reduce carbon emissions in the power sector and move toward a more sustainable future.
The support of frontier industries such as hydrogen power was outlined in the country’s government work report for 2024.
The researchers from Fudan University, fabricated a tandem of high-performance ion exchange membrane and electrode, installed at estuaries to harvest osmotic energy and drive hydrogen production.
The integrated device demonstrated a consistent and quick alkaline hydrogen evolution rate for more than 12 days under the artificial salinity gradient.
This is according to a study published recently in the journal Nature Sustainability.
The study presented a viable pathway for hydrogen production through renewable sources, said the researchers.
Hydrogen is a chemical element; it has symbol H and atomic number 1. It is the lightest element and, at standard conditions, is a gas of diatomic molecules with the formula H2, sometimes called dihydrogen, but more commonly called hydrogen gas, molecular hydrogen or simply hydrogen. It is colorless, odorless, tasteless, non-toxic, and highly combustible.
Constituting approximately 75% of all normal matter, hydrogen is the most abundant chemical substance in the universe. Stars, including the Sun, primarily consist of hydrogen in a plasma state, while on Earth, hydrogen is found in water, organic compounds, and other molecular forms. The most common isotope of hydrogen (symbol 1H) consists of one proton, one electron, and no neutrons.
In the early universe, the formation of hydrogen’s protons occurred during the first second following the Big Bang, with neutral hydrogen atoms only forming approximately 370,000 years later during the recombination epoch as the universe cooled and plasma had cooled enough for electrons to remain bound to protons.
Hydrogen, typically nonmetallic except under extreme pressures, readily forms covalent bonds with most nonmetals, contributing to the formation of compounds like water and various organic substances. Its role is crucial in acid-base reactions, which predominantly involve proton exchange among soluble molecules.
NAN
