In the construction of " innovation northernization, " there is such a scientist who always upholds the belief of " writing papers on the land of the motherland, " and transforms scientific and technological achievements into practical applications that serve national strategies and benefit the people 's livelihood. He is our school of chemistry professor-Sun Xiaoming. Let 's go to teacher Sun Xiaoming and explore the story of scientists behind the industrialization of electrolytic seawater hydrogen production.
Dr. Sun Xiaoming graduated from Tsinghua University in 2005, engaged in postdoctoral research at Stanford University in the United States from 2005 to 2008, and worked at Beijing University of Chemical Technology since 2008, mainly engaged in inorganic nanomaterial chemistry research, and made a series of progress in the field of electrolytic water, fuel cells and gas superwetting electrode devices. He was funded by the National Science Foundation for Distinguished Young Scholars in 2011, won the title of leading talent in the Ten Thousand Talents Program of the Central Organization Department in 2019, and won the title of leading talent in young and middle-aged scientific and technological innovation of the Ministry of Science and Technology in 2017. On March 5,2025, the international top journal Nature published the stable operation results of Mr.Sun 's team in the field of alkaline seawater electrolysis for 10,000 hours.
1 Diligent research, firm scientific research course
Stepping into an ordinary office in the complex building, Professor Sun Xiaoming told us about his scientific research process. When it comes to scientific research, he said firmly: ' On the road of scientific research, I always adhere to the principle of ' being a good scholar and studying real problems ', closely integrate personal academic interests with national strategic needs, resolutely avoid drifting with the flow, blindly pursue short-term hot spots, and always adhere to the academic spirit of ' ten years grinding a sword '.
Over the years, the team led by Professor Sun Xiaoming has always maintained a high-frequency rhythm of innovation, and the research results have achieved a step-by-step breakthrough. In the early stage, the team successfully developed new materials such as metal oxides, noble metals and carbon composite core-shell structures, which laid a solid foundation for efficient electrocatalysis. The team innovatively proposed the concept of ' gas superwetting electrode ', which significantly improved the energy efficiency of electrocatalytic reaction. Aiming at the two major problems of chloride ion corrosion and high salinity in the process of seawater electrolysis, the team also proposed the strategies of ' anionic electrostatic repulsion layer ' and ' dynamic Cl adsorption regulation ', which successfully broke through the key technical bottlenecks.
During this period, the team 's research results were widely published in top international journals such as Nat.Commun., Angew.Chem.Int.Ed., PNAS and so on. More than 300 papers were published, and the total number of papers was more than 30,000 times. At the same time, the team also obtained more than 80 national invention patents, of which more than 10 have been successfully transformed and applied.
2 Prototype verification, accept the market test
Scientific research cannot be self-appreciated, it must be tested in the wave of industry. Upholding this concept, Professor Sun Xiaoming 's team quickly cooperates with enterprises every time they make a technological breakthrough, and verifies and feeds back the results. Once the problem is found in the application process, the team immediately conducts further research and improvement, and carries out organized scientific research work in an orderly manner. After 78 years of scientific research accumulation and precipitation, in 2020, the world 's first 1kW direct electrolytic seawater hydrogen production prototype was born in our school. After the equipment was put into practical application, it achieved continuous and stable operation. It not only successfully passed the strict test of the market, but also gave birth to the dawning moment of China 's electrolytic seawater hydrogen production industry. The technology of electrolysis of seawater for hydrogen production has also won the first prize of the technical invention of the China Renewable Energy Society and many other honors.
3 Start-ups, start the industry journey
With the approval of the first prototype, there has been a larger demand in the market, and the laboratory preparation capacity has been unable to meet the market demand. At this time, Professor Sun Xiaoming realized that if the electrolytic seawater hydrogen production technology is fully applied to the industrialization practice, it has become an inevitable move to establish a company for large-scale production and manufacturing and market-oriented operation. As a result, Shenzhen Hydrogen Energy Co., Ltd.was officially announced in December 2021. In order to ensure the technical independence and advancement of the project company, Professor Kuang Yun, the backbone of the team, decided to leave his job and join the company full-time, focusing on promoting the industrial application of electrolytic seawater hydrogen production. The project company is another typical case of our school 's transformation by investing in scientific and technological achievements.
4 Industry breakthrough, realize the scale upgrade
Under the guidance of Professor Sun Xiaoming and the management of General Manager Kuang Yun, this technology enterprise deeply empowered by Beihua Research Team has achieved technological transition in only two years : a comprehensive breakthrough from 1kW to 500kW equipment matrix ; zhangjiakou hundred kilowatts pilot base rapid rise ; cooperation with Shenzhen Energy Group 500kW demonstration project leading the world ; in cooperation with China Guangdong Nuclear Power Co., Ltd., 100 kW equipment landed on the ' Fuxi No.1 ' offshore platform to create a new mode of hydrogen production and marine ranching integration ; the world 's first MW-level demonstration project has been successfully operated in cooperation with CNOOC.
5 Innovation closed loop, industry nurturing scientific research
Professor Sun Xiaoming believes that technological innovation can promote industrial upgrading, and industrial practice also points out a new direction for basic research. He introduced : ' Through in-depth exploration of practical application scenarios ( such as hydrogen production from offshore wind power, hydrogen production from salt lake / saline-alkali water, etc. ), we pay more attention to the dynamic corrosion mechanism of electrode materials under complex water quality and working conditions, and inspired the design of NiCoP-Cr 2O 3 electrode with multi-layer passivation structure, thus realizing the stable operation of the equipment for 10,000 hours. The transformation of scientific research achievements has created economic benefits of more than 13 million yuan for Beijing University of Chemical Technology, forming a virtuous circle of " production, study and research. "
6 Incentivize Innovation, Toward the International Frontier
From laboratory to demonstration line, from thesis chart to industrial blueprint, Prof. Sun Xiaoming led the team to walk out of a “basic breakthroughs - technology research - results transformation - industrial feedback” of the whole chain of innovation. After more than ten years of dedicated research and continuous application exploration, the team, together with Prof. Liu Bin of the City University of Hong Kong, has revealed the oxidation and corrosion mechanism of cathode materials due to reverse current in intermittent operation, and put forward a very innovative solution to the bottleneck of electrolysis hydrogen production technology caused by the fluctuation of renewable energy sources, and the related research results were published in the top international journal Nature. The results break through the stability problem of traditional alkaline electrolyzer coupled with renewable energy, providing key technical support for the large-scale production of green hydrogen, which is of great significance to promote the dual-carbon goal. The work was highly evaluated by Nature Chemical Engineering under the title of “Electrolyzer engineering through in situ catalyst regeneration”, which stated that "Their work confirms that cathode degradation under such conditions is actively accelerated by shutdown and restart cycles. found this problem particularly severe in seawater electrolysis, where halide anions tend to accumulate and lead to side reactions upon shutdown. "
7 Establishing Virtue and Cultivating Excellent Talents
Preaching and teaching constitute an important core of Prof. Sun's career. As a doctoral supervisor, Prof. Sun Xiaoming upholds high standards and strict requirements, and often urges students to sink their hearts and draw more knowledge from books. Seemingly strict style of governance, but actually full of deep expectations for the growth of students, and it is this strict, so that he harvested the love and respect of students.
As the saying goes, “Strict teachers make good students”, under Prof. Sun's careful guidance, a number of outstanding students have emerged from his group, of which more than ten have become team leaders or research backbones in universities or research institutes, including Lu Zhiyi, who is working at the Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kuang Yun, who has founded the Shenzhen Hydrogen Energy Co. Ltd. and Zhou Daojin, who continues to shine in Beihua. Mr. Sun was not only a rigorous student, but also a kind mentor," said one student. He always practiced the motto in his circle of friends - ‘Be a good scholar, study true learning’. Mr. Sun treats everyone's subject with meticulousness and excellence. Besides, in order to let everyone combine work and rest, he often organizes table tennis and badminton competitions and encourages everyone to actively participate." Under the leadership of Prof. Sun, the group has created a strong learning atmosphere and a relaxed and active team environment, which also allows each member to maintain sufficient forward momentum on the academic path.
In the end, Prof. Sun Xiaoming said that researchers should not only “reach for the sky”, pursuing academic excellence in basic research, inheriting the truth-seeking tradition of “experiment-cognition-experiment” in chemistry, and constantly exploring the frontiers of science, but also “stand on the ground”, closely combining research results with the major needs of the country, effectively solving practical problems, and demonstrating the mission and responsibility of scientific researchers. They should also “stand on the ground”, closely integrate the research results with the major national needs, effectively solve practical problems, show the mission and responsibility of scientific researchers, and truly realize the academic pursuit of writing papers on the motherland, so that scientific research not only serves the expansion of human knowledge, but also provides strong support for economic and social development.UN