According to the DOE, the projects will directly engage with “emerging minority talent” to reduce the costs of technologies for producing and using clean hydrogen, as well as improving materials used throughout the hydrogen value chain.

It is hoped any advancements made in the projects will contribute to meeting the DOE’s Hydrogen Shit goal of reducing the cost of clean hydrogen to $1 per kg in one decade.

Read more: US DOE to slash cost of clean hydrogen by 80% to $1 this decade

The University of Texas at El Paso will be in receipt of a portion of the funding for two of its projects: Combustion Synthesis of Nanoscale Magnesium Borides with Improved Hydrogen Uptake and Release, which hopes to produce advanced materials for hydrogen storage; and Metal Organic Framework-based Heterostructure Electrocatalysts with Tailored Electron Density Distribution for Cost-Effective and Durable Fuel Cells and Electrolysers, to reduce the cost of fuel cell and electrolyser components by eliminating the use of platinum group metals.

Additionally, the University of California, Riverside will see two projects receive DOE funding: Single-walled Carbon Nanotubes with Confined Chalcogens as the Catakysts and Electrodes for Oxygen Reduction Reaction in Fuel Cells, to investigate a new type of PGM-free catalysts for fuel cell use; and Large-Scale Desnity Functional Tight Binding (DFTB) Calculations to Probe Structural Effects and Bridge Mulitple Length Scales in Hydrogen-Metal Systems, to improve understanding of the effects of hydrogen on metals to develop materials.

Finally, California State University, Los Angeles’ project, Developing Highly Porous Metal-Organic Frameworks and Composite Materials for Hydrogen Storage, which aims to develop novel materials with improved capabilities for hydrogen storage, will see DOE support.

H2 View understands the funding for the projects is being provided by the DOE Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office (HFTO). In addition to the direct $1.5m project funding, $550,000 will be provided for natural laboratories supporting the projects.