Water electrolyzers are promising devices that use electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. If powered by solar cells or other renewable energy technologies, they could contribute to the sustainable production of hydrogen used to make ammonia, which in turn is used to produce fertilizers and other valuable compounds.

Most water electrolyzers require purified water, even though seawater is far more abundant on Earth. This is because the salts in seawater can damage the devices and interfere with electrolysis, the process by which water is split into hydrogen and oxygen.