Hydrogen Coupling Enables High‐Efficiency Zero‐Carbon Electrometallurgy

ABSTRACT The steel industry's reliance on carbon‐intensive blast furnace ironmaking poses a significant barrier to global decarbonization. Electrometallurgy has been proposed as a means to cut carbon emissions. Yet, these technologies lag behind blast furnace ironmaking in energy consumption and efficiency, hindering their widespread adoption. Here, we introduce a hydrogen coupling strategy, namely the zero‐carbon electrochemical reduction of ore (ZERO) technology, which achieves zero‐carbon iron production with exceptional energy efficiency. By replacing the conventional oxygen evolution anode with a hydrogen oxidation reaction (HOR), ZERO reduces cell voltage by over 50% (1.3 versus 2.9 V at 100 mA cm ⁻² ) while maintaining 94% iron purity. Thermodynamic and kinetic analyses reveal that HOR's low overpotential and faster kinetics minimize energy losses during electrolysis, yielding a total energy consumption of only 2.76 MWh per metric ton (including hydrogen production)—significantly lower than traditional blast furnace ironmaking (5.86 MWh per metric ton) and existing low‐carbon ironmaking methods (more than 3.0 MWh per metric ton). Furthermore, ZERO operates under mild conditions, and its decoupled design enables seamless integration with fluctuating renewables, offering a scalable electrochemical route for sustainable steel production and advancing heavy industry decarbonization.