In South Korea, Seoul National University College of Engineering announced that a research team led by Professor Sung Jae Kim from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering has developed a new energy-harvesting water purification system capable of producing both purified water and hydrogen simultaneously.
The University noted that this innovative technology removes impurities from saline water while reducing hydrogen ions at the electrode to generate hydrogen gas. The system integrates desalination and water electrolysis into a single process, thereby minimizing energy loss compared to conventional water-purification systems.
Supported by the Korea Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT) and the SNU Energy Initiative (SNUEI), the study has been published online in Communications Materials a leading journal in the field of materials science.
Professor Kim’s research team developed a combined freshwater–hydrogen production platform based on ion concentration polarization (ICP), a nanoelectrokinetic phenomenon that enables salt removal and hydrogen generation within a single module using a cation exchange membrane.
Professor Kim’s team has demonstrated a technology to recover a portion of the electrical energy used in water purification in the form of hydrogen gas—recovering approximately 8–10% of energy that would otherwise be lost in conventional ICP desalination. If the produced hydrogen is supplied to a fuel cell, the system could evolve into a self-powered, energy-autonomous water purification platform, capable of generating a part of its own operating electricity.
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