Hexafluorophosphate additive enables durable seawater oxidation at ampere-level current density
Xun He,
Yongchao Yao,
Limei Zhang,
Hefeng Wang,
Hong Tang,
Wenlong Jiang,
Yuchun Ren,
Jue Nan,
Yongsong Luo,
Tongwei Wu (),
Fengming Luo (),
Bo Tang () and
Xuping Sun ()
Additional contact information
Xun He: Sichuan University
Yongchao Yao: Sichuan University
Limei Zhang: University of Electronic Science and Technology of China
Hefeng Wang: Shandong Normal University
Hong Tang: University of Electronic Science and Technology of China
Wenlong Jiang: University of Electronic Science and Technology of China
Yuchun Ren: University of Electronic Science and Technology of China
Jue Nan: University of Electronic Science and Technology of China
Yongsong Luo: Sichuan University
Tongwei Wu: University of Electronic Science and Technology of China
Fengming Luo: Sichuan University
Bo Tang: Shandong Normal University
Xuping Sun: Sichuan University
Nature Communications, 2025, vol. 16, issue 1, 1-10
Abstract:
Abstract Direct seawater electrolysis at ampere-level current densities, powered by coastal/offshore renewables, is an attractive avenue for sustainable hydrogen production but is undermined by chloride-induced anode degradation. Here we demonstrate the use of hexafluorophosphate (PF₆⁻) as an electrolyte additive to overcome this limitation, achieving prolonged operation for over 5,000 hours at 1 A cm−2 and 2300 hours at 2 A cm−2 using NiFe layered double hydroxide (LDH) as anode. Together with the experimental findings, PF₆⁻ can intercalate into LDH interlayers and adsorb onto the electrode surface under an applied electric field, blocking Cl⁻ and stabilizing Fe to prevent segregation. The constant-potential molecular dynamics simulations further reveal the accumulation of high surface concentrations of PF6− on the electrode surface that can effectively exclude Cl−, mitigating corrosion. Our work showcases synchronous interlayer and surface engineering by single non-oxygen anion species to enable Cl− rejection and marks a crucial step forward in seawater electrolysis.
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:
Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-60413-0 Abstract (text/html)
Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.
Export reference: BibTeX
RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan)
HTML/Text
Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-025-60413-0
Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-60413-0
Access Statistics for this article
Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie
More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().