Harvesting Hydropower via a Magnetoelastic Generator for Sustainable Water Splitting
Abstract
Energy consumption and the resulting climate change are the two major challenges to human sustainability. Hydrogen (H 2 ) is a form of environmentally friendly renewable energy with an extremely high energy density of 143 MJ kg -1 . Water splitting is a practical and cost-effective approach to generate H 2 through the decomposition of H 2 O by electrolysis with an external power supply. Herein, we introduce a compelling platform technology for self-powered water splitting by using a soft magnetoelastic generator to convert hydropower into electricity as a sustainable power supply for electrolysis. At a rotating speed of 469 rpm, the hydropower harvester is able to convert flowing kinetic energy into electricity and produce a high current density of 2.99 mA cm -2 at a low resistance of 60 Ω. The magnetoelastic generator is intrinsically waterproof since the magnetic field can penetrate the water molecules. As a demonstration, the device maintained a stable electrical output even in underwater situations after over 7,000 cyclic operations. The generated electricity from hydropower could produce H 2 at a rate of 1.93 × 10 -3 mL min -1 . In conclusion, this work provides a compelling method for self-powered water splitting by using flowing kinetic energy.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Initially charged up to 9 V, the discharged capacitor maintains ≈6 s at 1.76 V, resulting in the generation of H2 and O2 bubbles at the cathode and anode.
“Initially charged up to 9 V, the discharged capacitor maintains ≈6 s at 1.76 V, resulting in the dramatic generation of H 2 and O 2 bubbles at the cathode and anode (Figure 7i).”
From Advances in Blue Energy Fuels: Harvesting Energy from Ocean for Self‐Powered Electrolysis (2025) · cites this paper as [235]
Ock et al. reported a self-powered water-splitting system employing hydropower-driven MEG.
“Ock et al. [235] have reported on a self-powered water-splitting system employing hydropower-driven MEG.”
From Advances in Blue Energy Fuels: Harvesting Energy from Ocean for Self‐Powered Electrolysis (2025) · cites this paper as [235]
The output performance of the MEG energy harvesting system increases with the rotating speed and exhibits a dependence on the device's number.
“The output performance increases with the rotating speed and exhibits a dependence on the device's number, demonstrating an increase in output performance through output matching.”
From Advances in Blue Energy Fuels: Harvesting Energy from Ocean for Self‐Powered Electrolysis (2025) · cites this paper as [235]
The MEG, directly driving the water-splitting system without energy storage, exhibits an H2 production rate of 1.93 × 10-3 mL min-1.
“Furthermore, the MEG, directly driving the water-splitting system without energy storage, exhibits an H 2 production rate of 1.93 × 10 -3 mL min -1 (Figure 7j).”
From Advances in Blue Energy Fuels: Harvesting Energy from Ocean for Self‐Powered Electrolysis (2025) · cites this paper as [235]
Cites
Photoelectrochemical water splitting in separate oxygen and hydrogen cells
Landman, A., Dotan, H., Shter, G. E., Wullenkord, M., Houaijia, A., Maljusch, A., Grader, G. S., & Rothschild, A. (2017) · Nature Materials · doi:10.1038/nmat4876 · Cited by 572 · see citing works
Self‐Powered Water Splitting Using Flowing Kinetic Energy
Tang, W., Han, Y., Han, C. B., Gao, C. Z., Cao, X., & Wang, Z. L. (2015) · Advanced Materials · doi:10.1002/adma.201404071 · Cited by 223 · see citing works
Leung, S.-F., Fu, H.-C., Zhang, M., Hassan, A. H., Jiang, T., Salama, K. N., Wang, Z. L., & He, J.-H. (2020) · Energy & Environmental Science · doi:10.1039/c9ee03566d · Cited by 127 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Advances in Blue Energy Fuels: Harvesting Energy from Ocean for Self‐Powered Electrolysis
Ock, I. W., Yin, J., Wang, S., Zhao, X., Baik, J. M., & Chen, J. (2025) · Advanced Energy Materials · doi:10.1002/aenm.202400563 · Cited by 64 · see citing works
Self-citation
- Authors
- Ock, I. W., Zhao, X., Tat, T., Xu, J., & Chen, J.
- Affiliations
- University of California, Los Angeles (US)
- Corresponding author
- Chen, Jun
- Venue
- ACS Nano
- Publisher
- American Chemical Society (ACS)
- Published
- 2022-10-06
- Volume
- 16
- Issue
- 10
- Pages
- 16816-16823
- ISSN
- 1936-0851 (ISSN-L)
- 1936-086X
- OpenAlex
- W4302760403
- Cited by
- 49
- References
- 3
- Citations by year
- 2026: 10 · 2025: 14 · 2024: 15 · 2023: 10
- FWCI
- 2.84
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- Locations
- ACS Nano (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- University of California, Los Angeles
- National Research Foundation of Korea (2021R1A6A3A14045141)
- Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science, University of California, Los Angeles
- Academic Senate, University of California, Riverside
- Hellman Foundation
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Biomedical Engineering › Advanced Sensor and Energy Harvesting Materials
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Mechanical Engineering › Innovative Energy Harvesting Technologies
- Physical Sciences › Materials Science › Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials › Magnetic Properties and Applications
- Keywords
- water splitting, hydrogen production, kinetic energy conversion, underwater operations, renewable energy
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
