Seawater could be used to store renewable energy, generate electricity and provide clean drinking water.

A Project at Loughborough University has been funded by UKRI to research the development of seawater electrolysis. Professor Wen-Feng Lin is aiming to use seawater to generate electricity and provide clean drinking water through the process, splitting sweater into hydrogen and oxygen efficiently and with zero emissions.

In this round of funding by UKRI, other projects funded include battery technology at Cardiff University, working on the development of cheaper and safer alternatives to lithium-ion batteries which do not involve the use of unsustainable elements such as lithium and cobalt.

While lithium-ion batteries currently dominate the market, they suffer from high maintenance costs and safety restrictions, and use rare and unsustainable elements such as lithium and cobalt. Redox flow batteries (RFBs) use electrochemical cells in which chemicals are dissolved and offer a cheaper, safer alternative.

The team, under Professor Marc Pera Titus aims to develop RFBs that use and reuse H2 carriers without the need for toxic or expensive components. It could deliver a clean and reversible energy source that could drive further decarbonisation of transport.

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