Optimizing the Dehydrogenation Kinetics of Metal Nitrides for Energy-Efficient Seawater Hydrogen Production at 2 A cm⁻²

Seawater hydrogen production, vital for sustainable energy solutions and freshwater preservation, faces challenges due to seawater complexity and high energy consumption. A strategy to modulate dehydrogenation kinetics of dual-phase metal nitrides using low-loaded Pt quantum dots (QDs), achieving stable and energy-efficient hydrogen generation is introduced. The Pt QDs@Ni₃N-MoN/Ti catalyst displays outstanding bifunctional seawater catalytic performance, enabling efficient hydrogen production and hydrazine degradation in a flow anion exchange membrane water electrolysis (AEMWE) device. Operating at a low voltage of 1.41 V, it achieves 2 A cm⁻² for 300 h, circumventing chlorine corrosion and yielding record-breaking energy equivalent input (2.68 kWh m⁻³ H₂ at 1 A cm⁻²), a 47.1% reduction compared to traditional methods. Integration with solar and biomass energy facilitates self-powered hybrid seawater hydrogen production, highlighting its potential applications. This work facilitates energy-efficient marine resource conversion to green hydrogen and offers viable insights into industrial hazardous pollutant degradation using metal-nitride electrocatalysts.