Global Centers Track 1: Global Hydrogen Production Technologies (HyPT) Center

Hydrogen produced with net-zero emissions of carbon dioxide is called "green" hydrogen. Large-scale green hydrogen production is essential to meet the Paris Agreement’s climate goals while maintaining the economic productivity vital to societal wellbeing. Green hydrogen enables the decarbonization of energy-intensive industries such as ammonia and steel production, and transportation.

However, green hydrogen is currently several times more expensive than hydrogen produced from fossil fuels. This hinders its global adoption. The Global Hydrogen Production Technologies (HyPT) Center engages a comprehensive, multidisciplinary team to formulate a pathway to low-cost large-scale green hydrogen production from a platform of complementary technologies.

The researchers—34 experts from 19 institutions in the U.S., Australia, Canada, UK, Egypt and Germany—develop new technologies and explore novel policies and economical models to build a strong hydrogen economy. This award also provides support and training to graduate students at Arizona State University, as well as to early career scientists at Stanford University and the University of Michigan.

The center fosters outreach to indigenous peoples in the U.S., Australia, and Canada. The aim is to engage these communities in adopting renewable energy technologies and give them access to educational and career opportunities in this field.

The Global HyPT Center focuses on three major green hydrogen production technologies with strong potential to deliver breakthroughs: (i) water electrolysis including renewable energy integration and emerging electrolyzers; (ii) methane pyrolysis with solid carbon as value-added co-products; and (iii) photocatalytic solar water splitting. The Center also tackles two major cross-cutting challenges for green hydrogen: (i) policies, economics, and markets for building a hydrogen economy; and (ii) water resource and treatment for electrolysis and photocatalysis.

The common underlying scientific challenge for all three green hydrogen production technologies is reaction kinetics. At the materials level, it requires innovations in catalysts, where material cost, performance, and criticality are the primary concerns. At the device level, reaction kinetics can be accelerated with improved mass and heat transport.

At the system and application levels, each technology faces a unique set of challenges in engineering and socio-economic dimensions. The Center interweaves researchers with diverse expertise from different countries under these thrust areas to work synergistically with the goal of low-cost (US$1/kg) and large-scale (gigatons a year) green hydrogen production.

This award is funded by the Global Centers program, an innovative partnership with funding agencies in Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom, to jointly support use-inspired research addressing global challenges in climate change and clean energy. Partnerships with the Commonwealth Science and Innovation Research Organisation (CSIRO), Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) leverage resources to tackle challenges at a larger scale than would be possible for one funding agency alone. This Center is jointly supported by NSF, CSIRO, NSERC, and UKRI.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.