Redox-mediated water electrolysis for on-demand hydrogen production and low-grade heat harvesting
5 affiliations
- 1Department of Materials Science and Engineering, College of Design and Engineering
- 2National University of Singapore
- 3National University of Singapore (Suzhou) Research Institute, 377 Lin Quan Street, Suzhou, Jiangsu, China, 215123
- 4Institute of Engineering Thermophysics, School of Mechanical Engineering
- 5Shanghai Jiao Tong University
Abstract
Hydrogen is widely regarded as a key energy carrier for a sustainable, decarbonized economy; however, conventional and decoupled water electrolysis remain highly electricity-intensive because of the thermodynamic water-splitting voltage and sluggish reaction kinetics. Here, we report a thermally regenerative electrochemical cycle (TREC)-based decoupled water electrolysis strategy that incorporates low-grade waste heat to enable hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) at cathodic potentials more positive than 0 V versus RHE (after IR correction). We establish a theoretical framework for integrating TREC into water splitting. By leveraging the negative temperature coefficient of the Fe(TiPA) complex, this TREC-base HER process delivers an absolute electricity savings of 7.9% compared to conventional alkaline HER. Operating alongside a highly stable ferrocyanide/ferricyanide anolyte, the flow system exhibits near-97% Faradaic efficiency and exceptional structural reversibility over prolonged cycles. Combined with the temporal flexibility to exploit off-peak electricity arbitrage, our design achieves a 33.1% reduction in overall hydrogen production costs, establishing a commercially viable and scalable paradigm for energy-efficient green hydrogen generation.
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BibTeX
@misc{wang2026redoxmediated,
title = {{Redox-mediated water electrolysis for on-demand hydrogen production and low-grade heat harvesting}},
author = {Heng Wang and Yuxi Song and Zhiyu Wang and Yizhuo He and Zhi Wei Javier Ang and Manxuan Tian and Zhirui Guo and Hang Zhang and Qing Wang},
howpublished = {ChemRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.26434/chemrxiv.15010068/v1},
url = {https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv.15010068/v1},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Redox-mediated water electrolysis for on-demand hydrogen production and low-grade heat harvesting
AU - Heng Wang
AU - Yuxi Song
AU - Zhiyu Wang
AU - Yizhuo He
AU - Zhi Wei Javier Ang
AU - Manxuan Tian
AU - Zhirui Guo
AU - Hang Zhang
AU - Qing Wang
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/07
PB - ChemRxiv
DO - 10.26434/chemrxiv.15010068/v1
UR - https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv.15010068/v1
AB - Hydrogen is widely regarded as a key energy carrier for a sustainable, decarbonized economy; however, conventional and decoupled water electrolysis remain highly electricity-intensive because of the thermodynamic water-splitting voltage and sluggish reaction kinetics. Here, we report a thermally regenerative electrochemical cycle (TREC)-based decoupled water electrolysis strategy that incorporates low-grade waste heat to enable hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) at cathodic potentials more positive than 0 V versus RHE (after IR correction). We establish a theoretical framework for integrating TREC into water splitting. By leveraging the negative temperature coefficient of the Fe(TiPA) complex, this TREC-base HER process delivers an absolute electricity savings of 7.9% compared to conventional alkaline HER. Operating alongside a highly stable ferrocyanide/ferricyanide anolyte, the flow system exhibits near-97% Faradaic efficiency and exceptional structural reversibility over prolonged cycles. Combined with the temporal flexibility to exploit off-peak electricity arbitrage, our design achieves a 33.1% reduction in overall hydrogen production costs, establishing a commercially viable and scalable paradigm for energy-efficient green hydrogen generation.
ER -