Research Projects

Hydrogen is a crucial energy carrier for a net carbon-neutral society, with applications in power generation and chemical industries. However, current water electrolyser technologies require good water quality, which can be expensive and laborious. Utilizing natural water resources like seawater as an electrolyte can reduce costs and time of operation. Seawater is ionically conductive and abundant in coastal areas, but it faces challenges such as undesirable chlorine evolution reaction (CER) at the anode and electrode corrosion in high chloride environments. To address these issues, a proposal will focus on developing anode electrocatalyst nanoparticles for seawater electrolysis. The proposed catalysts will have MnO2 as the outer shell, blocking Cl- ions but allowing water molecules to make OER on the core metal surface. Core@shell catalysts with Ir or Ru-based cores will be used initially, as they are proven to be effective for OER in non-chloride mediums. The effect of MnO2 shell thickness on catalytic activity and stability will be studied. Core@shell-1@shell-2 particles will be developed to minimize expensive metal loading in the catalyst. Inexpensive metal (Cu or Ni) will be used as core metal, and Ir or Ru as shell-1. The optimum parameters for the best-performed catalyst will be obtained. Extensive physico-chemical characterization will be conducted to correlate morphology with catalytic activity and stability.