UConn is a partner in three important projects with industry that have been selected to receive significant federal funding as the Department of Energy (DOE) seeks to advance hydrogen energy technology.
In March, the DOE announced $750 million in funding for 52 projects nationwide, many of them pairing university research with industrial production. The funding is the first phase of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which authorizes $1.5 billion for clean energy projects and aims to create thousands of new jobs. Additionally, the selected projects will provide support to 32 disadvantaged communities across the country.
“Clean energy technology presents so many opportunities for our state and country,” says Pamir Alpay, UConn’s vice president for research, innovation, and entrepreneurship. “Beyond the critical importance of producing clean, renewable energy that mitigates the impact of climate change, the industry’s growth brings with it excellent employment opportunities and the chance to establish Connecticut as a leader in the field.”
UConn faculty are directly involved with three of the funded projects, each relating to electolyzers – devices utilized to split water atoms into hydrogen and oxygen, allowing generation of green hydrogen as a clean energy carrier and a carbon-free feedstock for a number of industrial processes. The work continues a legacy of University researchers collaborating with private and public entities to advance fuel cell technology.
“This is the largest hydrogen program ever to come out of the Department of Energy,” says Jasna Jankovic, an associate professor of Materials Science and Engineering and Center for Clean Energy Engineering (C2E2), and one the primary investigators being funded. “This is really a huge moment in the story of clean energy and we are very happy to be selected with our collaborators to continue our work.”
Jankovic is involved in two of the projects as the UConn PI. She and co-PI Qian Yang, Assistant Professor in the School of Computing, are collaborating with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and Plug Power Inc., the lead of the project, on gigawatt-scale electolyzer component manufacturing and assembly, a project receiving $45.7 million in total funding. UConn will receive approximately $1.9 million of that funding.
Associate research professor for the UConn C2E2 Stoyan Bliznakov is a co-P.I. with Jankovic on a second manufacturing project. They are working with the Farmington-based Mott Corporation on advanced porous transport layer design and manufacturing for electrolyzers. UConn’s portion of the $10 million grant is approximately $2.1 million.
C2E2 and UConn researchers, PI Xiao-Dong Zhou and Co-PIs S. Bliznakov, S. Santos, Y. Wang, and N. Xu, are beneficiaries of the third grant, led by NexTech (d.b.a. Nexceris), funding work on scaleup and demonstration of high temperature electrolysis technology. Collaborators include Georgia Tech, the Idaho National Laboratory, Clark Atlanta University, and Florida A&M. Of the $30 million for the project, UConn will receive close to $1.7 million.
According to C2E2 Director Xiao-Dong Zhou, UConn’s role will continue to build understanding of best techniques to manufacture fuel cells. The industry collaborations allow researchers to understand scaling through the interpretation of system-level data.
“In many ways, producing hydrogen focuses in green energy by using water as the source,” Zhou says. “Dr. Jankovic and her team are focused on the low-temperature side of things. Other members are working on hydrogen sourcing. UConn has expertise and experience in both areas.”
UConn’s research and interest in clean energy technology runs deep. President Radenka Maric – herself a world-renowned researcher and expert in clean energy – has declared climate change as one of the most critical issues facing the world.
“These projects support the initiatives that…
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