Sun, X.Shen, W.Liu, H.Xi, P.Jaroniec, M.Zheng, Y.Qiao, S.Z.2025-01-082025-01-082024Nature Communications, 2024; 15(1):10351-1-10351-102041-17232041-1723https://hdl.handle.net/2440/143563Development of large-scale alkaline seawater electrolysis requires robust and corrosion-resistant anodes. Here we propose engineering NiFe layered double hydroxide (LDH)-based anodes by incorporating a series of anions into the LDH interlayers. The most optimal NiFe LDH anode with intercalated phosphates demonstrates stable operation at a high current density of 1.0 A cm−2 for over 1000 hours in a 2 W-scale alkaline seawater electrolyzer (ASWE). Fundamental studies indicate that the basicity, indicated by pKa values, of the intercalated anions in NiFe LDH governs its oxygen evolution reaction activity and corrosion resistance. Highly basic anions (i.e., phosphates) securely anchor Fe sites and facilitate proton transfer to boost both durability and activity. Notably, we demonstrate the proof-of-concept for the NiFe anode in an industrial 1 kW-scale ASWE stack (1,081.2 cm2 anode area in total). This unit achieves a stable operating current density of 0.5 A cm−2 at about 2.0 V, twice that of the commercial alkaline pure water electrolyzer, contributing to an economically competitive hydrogen production cost of US$ 1.96 kgH2‾¹.en© The Author(s) 2024. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, which permits any non-commercial use, sharing, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if you modified the licensed material. You do not have permission under this licence to share adapted material derived from this article or parts of it. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.Electrocatalysis; Hydrogen energyJournal article10.1038/s41467-024-54754-5719575Sun, X. [0000-0002-3057-5580]Liu, H. [0000-0001-9762-516X]Zheng, Y. [0000-0002-2411-8041]Qiao, S.Z. [0000-0002-1220-1761] [0000-0002-4568-8422]