Critical Metrics and Fundamental Materials Challenges for Renewable Hydrogen Production Technologies

Abstract

The US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Fuel Cell Technologies Office has made significant progress in fuel cell technology advancement and cost reduction. Encouragingly, rollouts of fuel-cell vehicles by major automotive manufacturers are scheduled over the next several years. With these rollouts, enabling technologies for the widespread production of affordable renewable hydrogen becomes increasingly important. Near-term utilization of current reforming and electrolytic processes is necessary for early hydrogen markets, but transitioning to industrial-scale renewable hydrogen production remains essential to the longer term. Central to the long term vision is a portfolio of renewable hydrogen conversion processes, including, for example, the direct photoelectrochemical and thermochemical routes, as well as photo-assisted electrochemical routes. DOE utilizes technoeconomic analyses to assess the long-term viability of these emerging hydrogen production pathways and to help identify key materials- and system-level cost drivers. Sensitivity analysis from the technoeconomic studies will be discussed in connection with the metrics and fundamental materials properties that have direct impact on hydrogen cost. It is clear that innovations in macro-, meso- and nano-scale materials are all needed for pushing forward the state-of-the-art. These innovations, along with specific research and development pathways for advancing materials systems for the renewable hydrogen conversion technologies are discussed.

Autobifunctional Mechanism of Jagged Pt Nanowires for Hydrogen Evolution Kinetics via End-to-End Simulation

“…Yet, the current industrial production chain for hydrogen involves energy-intensive natural gas reforming. It is essential to develop economical, sustainable processes such as water-splitting electrolysis to steer the market toward the green energy future . Presently, commercial electrolysis cells use Pt-based catalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) due to their high activity and stability, but the catalyst cost is a major bottleneck .…”

Solar-Powered Plasmon-Enhanced Heterogeneous Catalysis

“…This path eliminates the need for a separate electrolyzer and reduces the potential losses in the system [63,70,71]. The PEC approach in perspective can be competitive with other H 2 production technologies, setting a H 2 cost around US$ 2-3/Kg (American DOE cost goal) considering a PEC device lifetime of 10 years, a 20% solarto-hydrogen efficiency (measured as electrical output from the conversion of photons into chemicals) and US$ 100-200/m 2 PEC material cost [72].…”

Earth‐Abundant Amorphous Electrocatalysts for Electrochemical Hydrogen Production: A Review

“…While the US Department of Energy has reported the H 2 breakeven cost to be $2.00–$4.00 per gallon of gasoline equivalent, [ 5 ] the current reported H 2 production cost via electrochemical water splitting is $3.26–$6.62. [ 6 ] Though the economic viability of electrochemical systems remains promising, it is imperative to further reduce costs by developing cheaper catalyst materials with high performance and durability. Amorphous electrocatalysts derived from earth‐abundant metals (Figure 1b,c) have shown promise in facilitating both HER and OER reactions while avoiding the issues of high cost and material scarcity associated with Pt‐ and Ir‐/Ru‐based noble‐metal compounds.…”