EPSCoR Research Fellows: NSF: Academic Integration of H2 Production through Collaboration with an Advanced Institution

Green hydrogen is produced from water using renewable energy sources, such as electricity or sunlight. Electrolysis uses electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen in an electrolyzer. Green hydrogen has many potential applications and can help reduce dependence on traditional fossil fuels and CO2 emissions.

However, green hydrogen production through water splitting is expensive. There are several reasons, such as high energy consumption caused by high water splitting overpotential, low stability and durability of catalysts especially under harsh conditions, and higher water purification costs. Through this fellowship, the Principal Investigator (PI) will spend six months at the host institution acquiring fuel cell and electrolyzer device fabrication skills and access to advanced characterization facilities.

The project will establish new collaborations between two Hispanic-Serving Institutions and benefit the PI’s career trajectory. Furthermore, the team will have opportunities to network and participate in the Hydrogen Hub to get connections with the industry. The PI will share knowledge and resources gained from this fellowship and help colleagues connect with the host institution to promote further collaborations.

The PI will bring the skills back to the classroom and set up a proton conducting fuel cell and electrolyzer to train students. The fellowship and collaborations will provide students with more opportunities to work as summer interns in industries or pursue graduate programs.

This Research Infrastructure Improvement (RII) EPSCoR Research Fellows project will provide a fellowship to an Associate Professor and training for a postdoctoral researcher at New Mexico State University (NMSU). This work will be conducted in collaboration with researchers at the University of California at Irvine (UCI) with Dr. Plamen Atanassov as the main host.

The PI will learn to use the well-established fuel cell and electrolyzer system in the host’s lab and obtain the related knowledge and skills. The objectives of this project are to achieve academic integration for hydrogen production through integration of knowledge and hands-on experimentation, integration of research lab and industry, and integration of undergraduate and graduate programs.

The project aims to advance novel catalyst development, enable the PI to learn fuel cell and electrolyzer fabrication, and enable the PI to use an in-situ scanning electrochemical microscope for advanced electrocatalyst characterizations. The outcome from the fellowship project will be the advancement of direct seawater splitting and the scaling up of hydrogen production in the future.

A long-term sustainable collaboration between the two institutions is expected to improve the electrochemical performance of water electrolysis for green hydrogen production. A fuel cell and electrolyzer will be set up at NMSU to bring new research, training, education, and outreach opportunities to graduate, undergraduate, community college, and high school students.

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.