NewHydrogen expands green technology research program
SANTA CLARITA, California – Expanded research will include a complete electrolyzer device and a replacement for platinum to lower the cost of green hydrogen.
NewHydrogen, a BioSolar company, has announced that it has executed an agreement to expand the existing sponsored research agreement with the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) to develop technology to reduce the cost of green hydrogen production. The new agreement is 10 times the previous budget and significantly expands the scope of the research program.
The initial sponsored research program at UCLA was focused on replacing the oxygen catalyst, iridium, a precious metal found only in asteroids, with low cost materials that meet or exceed the performance characteristics of iridium.
The expanded research will focus on significantly reducing or replacing the hydrogen catalyst, platinum. Platinum is so rare that only 200 tons are mined every year and yet its demand is ever increasing in applications such as batteries, fuel cells, fiber optics, LCD displays, cancer treatment and many others.
Additionally, a complete and fully optimized electrolyzer device will be developed that incorporates all the innovations from this research program. This fully functional hydrogen-producing electrolyzer will serve as a reference prototype to help electrolyzer manufacturers worldwide use itsr breakthrough technology to produce low cost green hydrogen.
The research will continue to be under the direction of Dr. Yu Huang, Vice Chair for Graduate Studies, Department of Materials Science and Engineering. Dr. Huang and her team are creating methodologies to apply the latest developments in nanoscale materials and nanotechnology to impact a wide range of technologies including materials synthesis, catalysis, fuel cells, biomedical and devices applications.
“We are very pleased to broaden our clean energy research program at UCLA with Dr. Huang and her team, a group whose collaboration we have a high level of confidence in,” said Dr. David Lee, CEO of BioSolar. “The expanded research focus takes some of the lessons learned and developed approaches thus far, and applies them to other raw materials including platinum, which we believe will maintain its increasing price trajectory. We appreciate the great work already accomplished and share the university’s goal of a greener world.”
NewHydrogen, Inc. is focused on developing a breakthrough electrolyzer technology to lower the cost of green hydrogen production. Hydrogen is the cleanest and most abundant fuel in the universe. It is zero-emission and only produces water vapor when used.
However, hydrogen does not exist in its pure form on Earth so it must be extracted. For centuries, scientists have known how to use electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen using a device called an electrolyzer.
Electrolyzers installed behind a solar farm or wind farm can use renewable electricity to split water, thereby producing green hydrogen. Unfortunately, electrolyzers are expensive and rely on rare earth materials such as platinum and iridium.
These very expensive materials account for nearly 50% of the cost of electrolyzers. The company’s technology is aimed at significantly reducing or replacing rare earth materials in electrolyzers with inexpensive earth-abundant materials to help usher in a green hydrogen economy that Goldman Sachs estimates will be worth $12 trillion by 2050.
