Two innovative technologies with ties to the HydroGEN Advanced Water Splitting Materials consortium have been honored with a 2022 R&D 100 Award from R&D World magazine. These awards are presented annually to recognize 100 of the most innovative technologies, materials, and products from the past year.

PGM-Free OER Catalyst as Replacement of Iridium for PEM Water Electrolyzer

Argonne National Laboratory developed an innovative cobalt oxide catalyst that may be able to replace the expensive iridium-based catalysts used for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in today’s commercial proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzers. This platinum-group-metal-free (PGM-free) catalyst is expected to cost about 2,000 times less than the current catalyst, which could greatly reduce the cost of clean hydrogen production from low-temperature electrolysis.

This technology was developed through a HydroGEN seedling project led by Di-Jia Liu with funding from DOE’s Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office in the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.

Read more in the Argonne National Laboratory news release.

Solar Fuel Generator Including a Catalytic Mesh

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory developed an innovative photoelectrochemical device, SolarCatMesh, that uses sunlight to directly convert water into hydrogen and oxygen. This self-contained, modular device can produce clean hydrogen almost anywhere, with no electrical grid or large-scale manufacturing infrastructure required.

The inventors include current and former HydroGEN capability experts Jeff Beeman, Frances Houle, and David Larson, and knowledge gained through the device development has led to other HydroGEN achievements, including a scaled-up integrated photoelectrochemical device demonstration published in 2020.

Read more in the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory news release.