A road map to the development of the next generation of efficient water electrolysers for the production of green H2 from renewable power (RoadtoGreenH2)

加拿大和德国都承诺到2050年将其经济转变为净零碳排放。能源部门是最大的二氧化碳排放源之一，将可再生能源整合到发电中是减少碳排放的一项有前景的战略。然而，风能和太阳能等可再生能源是不规则的，不仅在短时间（几秒到几小时）内变化，而且在长时间（季节）内变化。因此，来自可再生能源的能源不会立即被消耗，必须储存起来，直到需要时使用和供应。氢可以通过化学和电化学与氧结合形成水，同时释放大量的能量、热或电，而不排放二氧化碳。然而，氢很少单独存在，通常作为其他材料的组成部分出现。因此，它必须在可再生能源的帮助下，从所谓的电解槽中的水中生产出来。这种绿色氢可以储存或分配给化工厂用于生产消费品，也可以转化为燃料电池发电，所有这些都不会或只排放很少的碳。然而，这种以氢为基础的经济的技术仍然需要改进，在经济上还没有竞争力。这项提案的资金允许加拿大和德国研究人员之间建立合作，以进一步开发无碳氢经济所需的技术。包括虚拟夏季和冬季学校在内的讲习班向公众开放，以便对氢技术进行有效讨论，并有助于培养高素质人才。两国的研究人员将合作研究改进的、具有成本效益的水电解槽材料和设计。使用新的机器学习方法和人工智能的广泛建模方法将加速这一发展。

Canada and Germany have both pledged to convert their economy to net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. The energy sector is one of the largest carbon dioxide emitters and the integration of renewable energy into electrical power generation is a promising strategy to reduce carbon emissions. However, renewable energy sources such as wind and solar are irregular and do not only vary over short times (seconds to hours) but also over long periods (seasons). Hence, energy from renewables, which is not immediately consumed, has to be stored until it is used and supplied when required. Hydrogen can be chemically and electrochemically combined with oxygen to form water while releasing considerable amounts of energy, heat or electricity, without emission of carbon dioxide. However, hydrogen is rarely found on its own and usually occurs as a component of other materials. Therefore, it has to be produced, ideally from water in so-called electrolyzers with the help of energy from renewable sources. This green hydrogen can be stored or distributed to chemical plants for the production of consumer goods or converted in fuel cells to generate electricity, all without or only little emission of carbon. However, the technology for such a hydrogen-based economy is still in need of improvement and is not economically competitive yet.The funding of this proposal allows for the establishment of a collaboration between Canadian and German researchers to further develop technologies needed for a carbon-free hydrogen-based economy. Workshops including virtual summer and winter schools, open to the public, are established to allow for effective discussion of hydrogen technologies and contribute to the training of Highly Qualified Personnel. Researchers from both countries will collaborate to investigate improved and cost-effective materials and designs for water electrolyzers. This development will be accelerated by extensive modelling approaches using new machine learning methodology and artificial intelligence.