The US Department of Energy (DOE) has announced a “notice of funding opportunity” for up to $46m of “financial assistance awards” to “accelerate the research, development and demonstration of adorable clean-hydrogen and fuel-cell technologies”.
“Advancing and demonstrating critical hydrogen and fuel cell technologies will help to drive decarbonization across challenging sectors, such as heavy-duty transportation and industrial and chemical processes,” said the DOE’s Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office, which will administer the grants.
Funding will be available under four “topic areas”:
1) Photoelectrochemical water splitting device scale-up
Proposals to develop and demonstrate machines that use solar power to split water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen without the need for an electrolyser will be considered if using “low-cost scalable synthesis and fabrication techniques”.
2) High-performance materials for hydrogen service, including cryogenic and/or high-pressure conditions
This topic area covers “advanced materials for use in high-pressure hydrogen storage tanks, cryogenic service conditions, and fiber-reinforced polymer hydrogen pipelines”.
3) Sustainable high-temperature proton exchange membranes and ionomers for heavy-duty transportation applications
This section is for the development of fuel-cell membranes and ionomers (types of polymers that can be electrically charged) suitable for high-temperature operation of up to 120C in heavy-duty transport
4) Domestic hydrogen fuel-cell electric motorcoach bus development and demonstration
Here, the DOE seeks proposals to develop and demonstrate long-haul fuel-cell buses
Companies and organisations such as universities can apply for a grant here.
