Advanced hydrogen technologies contribute essentially to the decarbonization of our industrialized world. Large-scale hydrogen production would benefit from using the abundantly available water reservoir of our planet’s oceans. Current seawater-desalination technologies suffer from high energy consumption, high cost, or low performance. Here, we report technology for water desalination at seawater molarity, based on a polymer ion-exchange membrane fuel cell. By continuously supplying hydrogen and oxygen to the cell, a 160-mM concentration decrease from an initial value of 600 mM is accomplished within 40 h for a 55-mL reservoir. This device’s desalination rate in 600 mM NaCl and substitute ocean water are 18 g/m²/h and 16 g/m²/h, respectively. In addition, by removing 1 g of NaCl, 67 mWh of electric energy is generated. This proof-of-concept work shows the high application potential for sustainable fuel-cell desalination (FCD) using hydrogen as an energy carrier.

先进的氢技术在本质上为我们工业化世界的脱碳做出了贡献。大规模的氢气生产将受益于我们星球海洋中丰富的水库。当前的海水淡化技术遭受高能耗，高成本或低性能的困扰。在这里，我们报告基于聚合物离子交换膜燃料电池的海水摩尔浓度下的海水淡化技术。通过向电池连续供应氢气和氧气，对于55 mL的储液罐，在40小时内即可将浓度从600 mM的初始值降低160 mM。该设备在600 mM NaCl和替代海水中的脱盐率分别为18 g / m ² / h和16 g / m ²/ h。另外，通过除去1g NaCl，产生67mWh的电能。这项概念验证工作显示了使用氢作为能源载体的可持续燃料电池脱盐（FCD）的巨大应用潜力。