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

二氧化碳净零排放产生的氢气被称为“绿色”氢气。要实现《巴黎协定》的气候目标，同时保持对社会福祉至关重要的经济生产力，大规模绿色氢气生产至关重要。绿色氢气使合成氨、钢铁生产和运输等能源密集型行业能够实现脱碳。然而，目前绿色氢气的价格比用化石燃料生产的氢气贵好几倍。这阻碍了它在全球范围内的采用。全球氢气生产技术(HyPT)中心聘请了一个全面的、多学科的团队，从互补技术的平台制定出一条低成本大规模绿色氢气生产的途径。这些研究人员来自美国、澳大利亚、加拿大、英国、埃及和德国的19个机构的34名专家，他们开发新技术，探索新的政策和经济模式，以建立强大的氢气经济。该奖项还为亚利桑那州立大学的研究生以及斯坦福大学和密歇根大学的早期职业科学家提供支持和培训。该中心促进了与美国、澳大利亚和加拿大的土著人民的接触。其目的是让这些社区参与采用可再生能源技术，并使他们有机会获得这一领域的教育和职业机会。全球HyPT中心专注于三项具有强大突破潜力的绿色制氢技术：(I)水电解，包括可再生能源集成和新兴电解槽；(Ii)以固体碳为增值副产品的甲烷热解；以及(Iii)光催化太阳能水分解。该中心还解决了绿色氢气面临的两大跨领域挑战：(I)建立氢经济的政策、经济和市场；(Ii)水资源以及电解和光催化的处理。所有三种绿色氢气生产技术的共同潜在科学挑战是反应动力学。在材料层面，它需要催化剂的创新，其中材料成本、性能和临界性是主要考虑因素。在设备层面上，通过改善质量和热量传输，可以加速反应动力学。在系统和应用层面，每项技术在工程和社会经济层面都面临着一系列独特的挑战。该中心将来自不同国家的具有不同专业知识的研究人员交织在这些主要领域，以协同工作，实现低成本(1美元/公斤)和大规模(每年10亿吨)绿色氢气生产的目标。该奖项由全球中心计划资助，该计划是与澳大利亚、加拿大和英国的资助机构建立的创新合作伙伴关系，旨在共同支持受使用启发的研究，以应对气候变化和清洁能源方面的全球挑战。与英联邦科学与创新研究组织(CSIRO)、加拿大自然科学与工程研究理事会(NSERC)、加拿大社会科学与人文研究理事会(SSHRC)和英国研究与创新(UKRI)的合作伙伴关系利用资源来应对比一个资助机构单独可能面临的更大规模的挑战。该中心由NSF、CSIRO、NSERC和UKRI共同支持。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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.