Green hydrogen has been produced by splitting seawater without any prior treatment, according to research.

Professor Shizhang Qiao and Associate Professor Yao Zheng from the School of Chemical Engineering at the University of Adelaide headed the international team.

Seawater is regarded as a natural feedstock electrolyte and is a nearly limitless supply. This makes more sense in areas with extensive coasts and lots of sunshine. It cannot be used in areas with limited access to seawater, though.

Due to corrosion caused by employing seawater and electrode side reactions, seawater electrolysis is still in its infancy when compared to pure water electrolysis.

The group will seek to scale up the system using a bigger electrolyser so that it can be applied in industrial operations like ammonia synthesis and hydrogen generation for fuel cells.