Projects

The HyMARC national laboratories conduct research projects within the following task structure and focus areas. Additionally, HyMARC supports several seedling projects funded by the DOE Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office.

In its third phase, the HyMARC research program is employing a co-design strategy, in which systems modeling and techno-economic analysis are directly coupled to materials discovery, design, and optimization to meet the requirements of specific hydrogen use cases.

HyMARC Phase 3 Task Structure

Task 1: Systems Analyses-Driven Efforts for Use-Case Scenarios

Lead: Hanna Breunig (LBNL)

Task 1 will develop and perform systems analyses to match hydrogen storage materials with applications for which there are clear benefits over batteries and physical storage. The paths leading to successful deployment identified by these analyses will focus material development, characterization, validation, engineering, and prototyping efforts to achieve intermediate- and long-term application performance targets.

Task 2: Materials Co-Design, Scale-Up, and Integration

Lead: Brandon Wood (LLNL)

Materials identified through Task 1, as well as the most promising materials advanced from HyMARC-2, will be evaluated, modified if necessary, and tested at both benchtop and kilogram scale to assess their performance and provide engineering data for future demonstration activities.

Task 3: New Materials, Catalytic Processes, and Concepts

Lead: Tom Autrey (PNNL)

Task 3 focuses on the new generation of smart designed materials, which leverage the foundational understanding of substrate-hydrogen interactions developed by HyMARC-2 but must be optimized for deployment. This task serves as a feeder to provide materials to the co-design activities in Tasks 2 and 3 for which satisfactory material solutions do not yet exist.

Task 4: Characterization and Validation

Lead: Sarah Shulda (NREL)

Task 4 will develop new advanced characterization tools and enhance existing capabilities to enable HyMARC to quickly evaluate new materials for future viability as hydrogen storage alternatives and transition them from bench-scale to large-scale solutions under relevant system conditions.

Task 5: Data Hub

Lead: Rachel Hurst (NREL)

The HyMARC Data Hub provides a solution for data accessibility both publicly and within the consortium, which is key to accelerating research across the geographically diverse national laboratory teams. The next step in the evolution of the Data Hub is to provide additional search capabilities and on-line data analysis and modeling tools for Data Hub users.

HyMARC Phase 3 Focus Areas: Designated High-Priority Research Topics

Within the task structure, various focus areas and projects are underway.

Systems Analyses

• New material evaluation
• New system validation
• Techno-economic and life cycle analysis
• Analysis support for prototyping

Materials Co-Design, Scale-Up, and Integration

• Design of materials, devices, and systems
• Scale-up of HyMARC Phase 2 materials
• Advanced sorbents
• Hydrides
• Liquid organic hydrogen carriers

New Materials, Catalytic Processes, and Concepts

• Metal-organic frameworks with step-shaped H2 isotherms for improved volumetric usable capacities
• Multiple H2 binding in metal-organic frameworks for high storage capacity
• Storage by sorbents under ambient conditions
• Plasmonically driven de-/re-hydrogenation of liquid organic hydrogen carriers
• MXenes materials with high vacancies for hydrogen storage
• Dehydrogenative coupling of alcohols and amines using low-quality process heat

Characterization and Validation

• High pressure flow reactor for carriers
• Expanded PCT and thermal conductivity capabilities
• Advanced spectroscopy
• Rheometry for liquid hydrogen carriers
• Interlaboratory enthalpy of adsorption study

Seedling Projects

View the list of HyMARC seedling projects below, their leads, and the date the project started.