Dual resistance ensures stable intermittent electrolysis of natural seawater

Dual resistance ensures stable intermittent electrolysis of natural seawater | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Physical Sciences - Article Dual resistance ensures stable intermittent electrolysis of natural seawater Bin Zhang, Shanshan Lu, Ying Gao, Chuanqi Cheng This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8074884/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Renewable electricity-driven direct seawater electrolysis (DSE) offers a promising route for sustainable hydrogen production by utilizing abundant seawater resources. However, the intermittent nature of renewable energies leads to cathodic‒anodic potential fluctuations during operation‒shutdown cycles, triggering critical challenges such as calcium/magnesium precipitation, chlorine corrosion, and dynamic redox of active sites. Most current electrocatalysts for DSE suffer from irreversible consumption and deliver deceptive stability under these conditions. Here, we report ultrasmall oxidized Pt nanoparticles (Pt-oxo NPs) with virtually unchanged structural stability to deliver robust hydrogen evolution performance during intermittent DSE. The high-valent Pt species withstand oxidation corrosion during the shutdown period. The Pt-O-Na+ layer not only performs electrostatic repulsion against Ca2+ and Mg2+ ions, protecting the active sites from blockage but also enriches local OH– to limit the interaction between Cl– and Pt sites. Simultaneously, it broadens the operational voltage window to prevent both reduction and oxidation. The oxygen-rich surface forms hydrogen bonds with water, stabilizing the high surface energy and preserving the ultrasmall particle size under cathodic potentials. Our proposed electrocatalyst exhibits over 3100 h of stable operation at 2.5 A cm–2 in an intermittent DSE system with negligible voltage decay and without any dynamic structural changes. Physical sciences/Chemistry/Green chemistry/Sustainability Physical sciences/Chemistry/Catalysis/Electrocatalysis Physical sciences/Energy science and technology/Renewable energy/Hydrogen energy Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Supplementary Files LSSSupplementaryInformation.pdf Supplementary Information Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8074884","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Physical Sciences - Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":559341972,"identity":"a1608426-3839-454d-8e93-46700937099e","order_by":0,"name":"Bin Zhang","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAy0lEQVRIiWNgGAWjYBACAwYeEGXDwNgApHhI0JImQbKWwxJgHlFazPnPHvxc8Ot8HfOMBMYHb9sY5M0JabFsOJcsPbPvtgTjjARmw7ltDIY7Gwg57GCPgTRvD1gLmzRvG0OCwQFCWg7zGP/m7TkH0sL+mzgtx3jMpHl+HADbwkyUFsseHjNr3oZkycaeh82Sc85JGG4gpMWc/4zxbZ4/dvyG7ckHP7wps5EnaAsYMLYxMBg2gCNTghj1IPCHgUGeWLWjYBSMglEw8gAADxE8LaFiNyQAAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0542-1819","institution":"Tianjin University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Bin","middleName":"","lastName":"Zhang","suffix":""},{"id":559341973,"identity":"969884b6-daaa-4cdc-ada8-299f7aee0638","order_by":1,"name":"Shanshan Lu","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Tianjin University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Shanshan","middleName":"","lastName":"Lu","suffix":""},{"id":559341974,"identity":"bf3b5810-e11d-4516-a138-c127e78a99e9","order_by":2,"name":"Ying Gao","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Tianjin University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Ying","middleName":"","lastName":"Gao","suffix":""},{"id":559341977,"identity":"9024c4ef-1035-4beb-8514-8414c70abc93","order_by":3,"name":"Chuanqi Cheng","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3366-8395","institution":"Tianjin University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Chuanqi","middleName":"","lastName":"Cheng","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-11-10 08:56:15","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8074884/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8074884/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":105035747,"identity":"38d6cfb8-bd7a-4e91-92e2-fe6fd3c3529d","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-03-20 07:26:33","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":8879115,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Manuscript251212.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8074884/v1_covered_c190ab28-5123-42fc-bbfa-dc91687c1146.pdf"},{"id":105026835,"identity":"6a13cf91-a9af-498b-a2bb-fda06841ab74","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-03-20 05:13:33","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":5432464,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"Supplementary Information","description":"","filename":"LSSSupplementaryInformation.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8074884/v1/76155613f9972445400cb21e.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"There is \u003cb\u003eNO\u003c/b\u003e Competing Interest.","formattedTitle":"Dual resistance ensures stable intermittent electrolysis of natural seawater","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8074884/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8074884/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"Renewable electricity-driven direct seawater electrolysis (DSE) offers a promising route for sustainable hydrogen production by utilizing abundant seawater resources. However, the intermittent nature of renewable energies leads to cathodic‒anodic potential fluctuations during operation‒shutdown cycles, triggering critical challenges such as calcium/magnesium precipitation, chlorine corrosion, and dynamic redox of active sites. Most current electrocatalysts for DSE suffer from irreversible consumption and deliver deceptive stability under these conditions. Here, we report ultrasmall oxidized Pt nanoparticles (Pt-oxo NPs) with virtually unchanged structural stability to deliver robust hydrogen evolution performance during intermittent DSE. The high-valent Pt species withstand oxidation corrosion during the shutdown period. The Pt-O-Na+ layer not only performs electrostatic repulsion against Ca2+ and Mg2+ ions, protecting the active sites from blockage but also enriches local OH– to limit the interaction between Cl– and Pt sites. Simultaneously, it broadens the operational voltage window to prevent both reduction and oxidation. 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