MUMBAI, India, Sept. 26 -- Intellectual Property India has published a patent application (202411019066 A) filed by Council Of Scientific And Industrial Research, New Delhi, on March 15, 2024, for 'bifunctional electrocatalysts for direct seawater splitting and a process for the preparation thereof.'
Inventor(s) include Poulomi Roy; Santanu Pal; and Sakila Khatun.
The application for the patent was published on Sept. 26, under issue no. 39/2025.
According to the abstract released by the Intellectual Property India: "Bifunctional Electrocatalysts for Direct Seawater Splitting and a Process for the Preparation Thereof Seawater splitting practically remain far-fetched due to interference of corrosive chlorine evolution reaction at anode. To achieve hydrogen production under high current, practically potential above 2.0 V needs to be applied, which is electrochemically chloride oxidation dominating region. The present inventiondemonstrates that the presence of trace amount of anionic inhibitors, such as carbonate, sulphate or phosphate provide a much-needed anionic protective layer at anode surface, selectively restricting chlorides but allowing hydroxides to reach the anode surface. The hypothesis has been examined on the currently developed novel MnFe layered double hydroxides or MnFeCr layered triple hydroxides as bifunctional electrocatalyst in alkaline seawater as electrolyte. The developed electrocatalyst was tested in two-electrode system using alkaline real seawater as electrolyte.The electrocatalyst, in presence of carbonate inhibitor, shows an impressive stability over 500 h maintaining the cell potential of 2.2 - 2.4 V without showing any sign of electrode degradation. The findings thereby provide much-needed solution to make seawater splitting feasible for sustainable hydrogen production."
Disclaimer: Curated by HT Syndication.
