1
|
Chatenet M, Pollet BG, Dekel DR, Dionigi F, Deseure J, Millet P, Braatz RD, Bazant MZ, Eikerling M, Staffell I, Balcombe P, Shao-Horn Y, Schäfer H. Water electrolysis: from textbook knowledge to the latest scientific strategies and industrial developments. Chem Soc Rev 2022; 51:4583-4762. [PMID: 35575644 PMCID: PMC9332215 DOI: 10.1039/d0cs01079k] [Citation(s) in RCA: 147] [Impact Index Per Article: 73.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/11/2022] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
Abstract
Replacing fossil fuels with energy sources and carriers that are sustainable, environmentally benign, and affordable is amongst the most pressing challenges for future socio-economic development. To that goal, hydrogen is presumed to be the most promising energy carrier. Electrocatalytic water splitting, if driven by green electricity, would provide hydrogen with minimal CO2 footprint. The viability of water electrolysis still hinges on the availability of durable earth-abundant electrocatalyst materials and the overall process efficiency. This review spans from the fundamentals of electrocatalytically initiated water splitting to the very latest scientific findings from university and institutional research, also covering specifications and special features of the current industrial processes and those processes currently being tested in large-scale applications. Recently developed strategies are described for the optimisation and discovery of active and durable materials for electrodes that ever-increasingly harness first-principles calculations and machine learning. In addition, a technoeconomic analysis of water electrolysis is included that allows an assessment of the extent to which a large-scale implementation of water splitting can help to combat climate change. This review article is intended to cross-pollinate and strengthen efforts from fundamental understanding to technical implementation and to improve the 'junctions' between the field's physical chemists, materials scientists and engineers, as well as stimulate much-needed exchange among these groups on challenges encountered in the different domains.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Marian Chatenet
- University Grenoble Alpes, University Savoie Mont Blanc, CNRS, Grenoble INP (Institute of Engineering and Management University Grenoble Alpes), LEPMI, 38000 Grenoble, France
| | - Bruno G Pollet
- Hydrogen Energy and Sonochemistry Research group, Department of Energy and Process Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) NO-7491, Trondheim, Norway
- Green Hydrogen Lab, Institute for Hydrogen Research (IHR), Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières (UQTR), 3351 Boulevard des Forges, Trois-Rivières, Québec G9A 5H7, Canada
| | - Dario R Dekel
- The Wolfson Department of Chemical Engineering, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, 3200003, Israel
- The Nancy & Stephen Grand Technion Energy Program (GTEP), Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa 3200003, Israel
| | - Fabio Dionigi
- Department of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering Division, Technical University Berlin, 10623, Berlin, Germany
| | - Jonathan Deseure
- University Grenoble Alpes, University Savoie Mont Blanc, CNRS, Grenoble INP (Institute of Engineering and Management University Grenoble Alpes), LEPMI, 38000 Grenoble, France
| | - Pierre Millet
- Paris-Saclay University, ICMMO (UMR 8182), 91400 Orsay, France
- Elogen, 8 avenue du Parana, 91940 Les Ulis, France
| | - Richard D Braatz
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA
| | - Martin Z Bazant
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA
- Department of Mathematics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA
| | - Michael Eikerling
- Chair of Theory and Computation of Energy Materials, Division of Materials Science and Engineering, RWTH Aachen University, Intzestraße 5, 52072 Aachen, Germany
- Institute of Energy and Climate Research, IEK-13: Modelling and Simulation of Materials in Energy Technology, Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, 52425 Jülich, Germany
| | - Iain Staffell
- Centre for Environmental Policy, Imperial College London, London, UK
| | - Paul Balcombe
- Division of Chemical Engineering and Renewable Energy, School of Engineering and Material Science, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK
| | - Yang Shao-Horn
- Research Laboratory of Electronics and Department of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA
| | - Helmut Schäfer
- Institute of Chemistry of New Materials, The Electrochemical Energy and Catalysis Group, University of Osnabrück, Barbarastrasse 7, 49076 Osnabrück, Germany.
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Halttunen K, Slade R, Staffell I. What if we never run out of oil? From certainty of "peak oil" to "peak demand". Energy Res Soc Sci 2022; 85:102407. [PMID: 36567695 PMCID: PMC9765301 DOI: 10.1016/j.erss.2021.102407] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/20/2021] [Revised: 11/05/2021] [Accepted: 11/11/2021] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic sent the oil industry into turmoil on a scale not seen since the 1970s. While the sector appears to be recovering, questions remain about the extent to which the pandemic has offered a glimpse into the possible future of the industry. This future is critical to the success of climate change mitigation, which requires significant cuts to the carbon dioxide emissions from using oil for energy. Therefore, it makes sense to consider future scenarios in which global oil demand peaks and then declines alongside scenarios of continued demand growth. This is a significant departure from historical development of oil demand and the dominant discussion of many decades about "peak oil" and the fear of demand outstripping readily available supply. The implications of peaking oil demand would be massive, not only for the oil industry but also for society as whole. There is not enough understanding of what the impacts would be, or how to prepare for them. The research community needs to take a clear-eyed view of potential futures of oil, which includes considering scenarios in which demand goes into long-term decline.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Krista Halttunen
- Centre for Environmental Policy, Imperial College London, SW71NE, UK
| | - Raphael Slade
- Centre for Environmental Policy, Imperial College London, SW71NE, UK
| | - Iain Staffell
- Centre for Environmental Policy, Imperial College London, SW71NE, UK
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Collins S, Deane P, Ó Gallachóir B, Pfenninger S, Staffell I. Impacts of Inter-annual Wind and Solar Variations on the European Power System. Joule 2018; 2:2076-2090. [PMID: 30370421 PMCID: PMC6199136 DOI: 10.1016/j.joule.2018.06.020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/24/2018] [Revised: 06/07/2018] [Accepted: 06/28/2018] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
Weather-dependent renewable energy resources are playing a key role in decarbonizing electricity. There is a growing body of analysis on the impacts of wind and solar variability on power system operation. Existing studies tend to use a single or typical year of generation data, which overlooks the substantial year-to-year fluctuation in weather, or to only consider variation in the meteorological inputs, which overlooks the complex response of an interconnected power system. Here, we address these gaps by combining detailed continent-wide modeling of Europe's future power system with 30 years of historical weather data. The most representative single years are 1989 and 2012, but using multiple years reveals a 5-fold increase in Europe's inter-annual variability of CO2 emissions and total generation costs from 2015 to 2030. We also find that several metrics generalize to linear functions of variable renewable penetration: CO2 emissions, curtailment of renewables, wholesale prices, and total system costs.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Seán Collins
- MaREI Centre, Environmental Research Institute, University College Cork, Lee Road, Cork, Ireland
- School of Engineering, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland
| | - Paul Deane
- MaREI Centre, Environmental Research Institute, University College Cork, Lee Road, Cork, Ireland
- School of Engineering, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland
| | - Brian Ó Gallachóir
- MaREI Centre, Environmental Research Institute, University College Cork, Lee Road, Cork, Ireland
- School of Engineering, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland
| | - Stefan Pfenninger
- Climate Policy Group, Institute for Environmental Decisions, Zurich ETH 8092, Switzerland
| | - Iain Staffell
- Centre for Environmental Policy, Imperial College London, London SW7 1NA, UK
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Grams CM, Beerli R, Pfenninger S, Staffell I, Wernli H. Balancing Europe's wind power output through spatial deployment informed by weather regimes. Nat Clim Chang 2017; 7:557-562. [PMID: 28781614 PMCID: PMC5540172 DOI: 10.1038/nclimate3338] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/12/2023]
Abstract
As wind and solar power provide a growing share of Europe's electricity1, understanding and accommodating their variability on multiple timescales remains a critical problem. On weekly timescales, variability is related to long-lasting weather conditions, called weather regimes2-5, which can cause lulls with a loss of wind power across neighbouring countries6. Here we show that weather regimes provide a meteorological explanation for multi-day fluctuations in Europe's wind power and can help guide new deployment pathways which minimise this variability. Mean generation during different regimes currently ranges from 22 GW to 44 GW and is expected to triple by 2030 with current planning strategies. However, balancing future wind capacity across regions with contrasting inter-regime behaviour - specifically deploying in the Balkans instead of the North Sea - would almost eliminate these output variations, maintain mean generation, and increase fleet-wide minimum output. Solar photovoltaics could balance low-wind regimes locally, but only by expanding current capacity tenfold. New deployment strategies based on an understanding of continent-scale wind patterns and pan-European collaboration could enable a high share of wind energy whilst minimising the negative impacts of output variability.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Christian M. Grams
- Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
- Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to CMG, Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science, ETH Zurich, Universitätstrasse 16, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland, , +41 44 632 82 10, or HW ()
| | - Remo Beerli
- Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Stefan Pfenninger
- Climate Policy Group, Institute for Environmental Decisions, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Iain Staffell
- Centre for Environmental Policy, Imperial College London, UK
| | - Heini Wernli
- Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
| |
Collapse
|