Tom Mackay

Tom is a PhD student working within the Energy Storage Group at the University of Exeter. The focus of his PhD project is on the design and development of low-cost earth-abudant catalysts for seawater electrolysis to generate green hydrogen. 

The coupling of renewable resources with energy storage technologies is imperative to combat intermittency and curtailment requirements. Green hydrogen generated by electrochemically splitting water is a highly attractive energy vector and is supported by the commitment of the UK government to expand green hydrogen generation capabilities to 6GW by 2030. Nevertheless, a holistic approach must be applied to the sustainability of green hydrogen production and with global freshwater availability being spatially and temporally dependent, alternative water source feeds must be explored. Though highly abundant and cost-effective, seawater introduces challenges due to the plethora of constituents and their location and time-dependent asymmetry. 

Tom's project investigates the performance of hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) catalysts in seawater electrolytes, specifically examining the implications of cationic precipitation emanating from the high concentration of  Mg²⁺ and Ca²⁺ ions. Tom aims to employ low energy intensive engineering strategies to impart a high efficiency and increased longevity to water electrolysers using seawater electrolytes, whilst ensuring a comprehensive approach to sustainability is applied.