Abstract: HydroGEN (https://www.h2awsm.org/) Energy Materials Network (EMN) a Fuel Cell Technologies Office (FCTO) consortium that aims to accelerate the discovery and development of advanced water splitting materials (AWSM) for sustainable, large-scale hydrogen production, and to more effectively enable the widespread commercialization of hydrogen and fuel cell technologies, in line with the H2@Scale initiative (https://www.energy.gov/eere/fuelcells/h2-scale), and meet the ultimate cost target for production set by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) at $2/kg H 2 . HydroGEN EMN is a six national laboratories consortium comprises National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) - lead, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Sandia National Laboratory (SNL), Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Idaho National Laboratory (INL), and Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL). With the rollouts of fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) by major automotive manufacturers underway, enabling AWS technologies for the widespread production of affordable, sustainable hydrogen becomes increasingly important. The HydroGEN Consortium offers more than 80 materials capabilities nodes to help address RD & D challenges in efficiency, durability and cost. The capabilities span computational tools and modeling, materials synthesis, characterization, process manufacturing and scale-up, and analysis. Detailed descriptions of all the HydroGEN nodes are available in a searchable format on the HydrogGEN website (https://www.h2awsm.org/capabilities), including information such as the host National Lab, the capability experts, and a synopsis of the node’s unique aspects and capability bounds. By design, the nodes are cross-cutting, and any given node may be useful for one or several advanced water splitting (AWS) technologies. Leveraging the HydroGEN consortium’s staff of technical experts and broad collection of resource capabilities is expected to advance the maturity and technology readiness levels in all the AWS technologies, including low- and high-temperature electrolysis, photoelectrochecmical (PEC) and solar thermochemical (STCH) routes, which includes hybridized thermochemical and electrolysis approaches to water splitting. Currently, there are 20 HydroGEN seedling projects, and one project focused on benchmarking advanced water splitting technologies. These 21 new projects utilized over 40 unique capabilities across the six HydroGEN core labs. HydroGEN is indeed a national innovation ecosystem that comprises 11 national labs, 7 companies, and 30 universities. The experimental and computational data generated within HydroGEN are stored and shared within and across projects within the secured HydroGEN Data Hub (https://datahub.h2awsm.org/), which currently comprises 128 users and 3889 data files. The goal is to make the digital data generated within HydroGEN accessible, so the data can be shared and leveraged throughout the EMNs and in future programs. This presentation will provide an overview of the HydroGEN EMN consortium and highlight some low temperature water electrolysis projects. Proton Onsite met and exceeded near-term performance targets of 1.85V (achieved 1.8 V) at 2.0 A/cm 2 , using Proton-synthesized high activity IrRu oxide catalysts of different compositions. The Proton PEM water electrolysis cell also demonstrated 800 hours of durability at 2 A/cm 2 , operating at 80°C and 30 bar. This project utilized NREL’s ex-situ characterization node towards a better understanding of IrRu oxide catalysts stability. Proton’s improved cell efficiency is a step towards achieving its PEM water electrolysis cell efficiency goal of 43 kWh/kg (1.7 V at 90°C) and at a cost of $2/kg H 2 . Collaboratively, LANL, SNL, and NREL demonstrated promising alkaline exchange membrane water electrolysis performance, comparable to iridium oxide, using SNL Anion Exchange Membrane node, LANL-developed PGM-free oxygen evolution reaction perovskite catalyst, and NREL’s expertise in membrane electrode assembly fabrication (Multicomponent Ink Development, High-Throughput Fabrication, and Scaling Studies node) and cell electrolysis testing (In-Situ Testing Capabilities for Hydrogen Generation node). ANL, together with the LLNL Ab Initio Modeling of Electrochemical Interfaces and LBNL Density Functional Theory and Ab Initio Calculations nodes, investigated the factors that may alter the transport property of a cobalt-based oxygen evolution reaction catalyst, developed by ANL for proton exchange membrane electrolysis. The LLNL team found the origin of the discrepancy between the reported experimental and theory-derived electronic structure of cobalt oxide. This resulted in the confidence to choose a specific theory that can provide reliable information about the electronic structure of the cobalt oxide materials family. This is crucial to reliably identify the factors that determine the transport property of this material, which affects the overall catalytic activity. HydroGEN looks forward to growing its membership of industry, university and laboratory collaborators that can partner with member-laboratory experts by way of CRADAs and potential future FOAs. Moving forward, HydroGEN will expand its presence in the AWS community through working group meetings and participation at relevant professional meetings.

Abstract: Dedicated to accelerating the research and development (R & D) of advanced water splitting (AWS) technologies for renewable, low-cost hydrogen production, HydroGEN (https://www.h2awsm.org/) is one of seven of the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Energy Materials Network (EMN) consortia. HydroGEN comprises six core national laboratories and focuses on four AWS pathways: low- and high-temperature electrolysis, photoelectrochemical, and solar thermochemical water splitting. The consortium provides streamlined access to world-class expertise and experimental and computational capabilities. Current activities span 20 university, industry and national laboratory R & D projects which seek to discover and design new materials, increase the efficiency and durability of water-splitting systems, and advance manufacturing and scale-up efforts. Further, HydroGEN is committed to connecting the AWS research community by developing a data platform for secure data transfers and public data sharing as well as supporting the development of comprehensive best practices and benchmarking methods.

Abstract: The emergence of hydrogen and fuel cell technologies offers the world important and potentially transformative environmental and energy security benefits. In recent years, research sponsored by the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Fuel Cell Technologies Office (FCTO) has made significant contributions to the development of these technologies. With major automotive manufacturers rolling out commercial fuel-cell electric vehicles, enabling technologies for the widespread production of affordable hydrogen are becoming increasingly important. FCTO’s Hydrogen Production Program supports a broad range of hydrogen production pathways using diverse feedstocks, ranging from nearer-term to longer term technologies. One of the more versatile pathways is based on splitting water via either electrolytic, photoelectrochemical, or thermochemical routes. For these advanced water splitting (AWS) technologies, there are tradeoffs amongst efficiency, durability, and cost at the materials, device, and system levels that need to be balanced for low cost hydrogen production. Recent advances have been made in catalytic materials for AWS to improve these attributes; however, further developments, from new materials to scale-up of state-of-the-art (SOA) materials, are required to reach large scale technoeconomic viability. Research innovations to advance the SOA in AWS materials are being facilitated by the DOE “HydroGEN” Energy Materials Network (EMN) consortium. An overview of FCTO’s Hydrogen Production Program activities with a focus on catalysts for advanced water splitting technologies and the HydroGEN consortium will be provided.