Surface and Interfacial Engineering of Electrocatalysts for Seawater Electrolysis

Conspectus By tapping Earth’s most abundant water resource, seawater electrolysis offers a promising route to hydrogen production while reducing reliance on freshwater. However, in natural seawater and at industrial current densities ( j ), complex ion–catalyst interactions at the interface can accelerate activity decay and undermine long-term durability. On the anode, halide attack dominated by Cl – can shift selectivity from the oxygen evolution reaction toward the chlorine evolution reaction and trigger the metal-chloride/hydroxide corrosion pathway, causing loss of active sites and poor oxygen selectivity. On the cathode, the local pH increase induced by the hydrogen evolution reaction can drive Mg 2+ /Ca…