Green Hydrogen from Seawater Project at IIT Madras

Green hydrogen: PV assisted generation from sea water

Objective

• To develop a corrosion resistant novel bimetallic composite-porous carbon foam catalyst material for saline water oxidation with high efficiency and design, To develop a solar photovoltaic cell (PV) powered seawater electrolyzer setup to demonstrate the generation of green hydrogen.

Description

• Green hydrogen production is the most needed technology for future fuel cell-driven devices and zero emission fuel cell vehicles (FCVs), Green hydrogen can be produced by the direct electrolysis of water using renewable solar energy. With the current water crisis however, the conversion of water to hydrogen using solar photovoltaic cells (PVs) has slowed down considerably, The current project aims in developing cost effective electrocatalysts and electrodes that can sustain seawater splitting without chlorine evolution or chloride corrosion and with a good hydrogen evolution reaction can alleviate the water scarcity issue.

Impact

• Green hydrogen can be produced by the direct electrolysis of water without any harmful emissions, Seawater utilization in this process will be an impactful step in addressing the ongoing water crisis, The utilization of the abundant sunlight available throughout the year in the country will be exceedingly important to engineer a sustainable future for India.