Wexler Group Receives DOE Grant for Solar Thermochemical Hydrogen Production
The Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), through its Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office (HFTO) program, awarded the Wexler Group a grant for the project titled “Ca-Ce-Ti-Mn-O-Based Perovskites for Two-Step Solar Thermochemical Hydrogen Production Cycles.”
The project objectives are to optimize Ca-Ce-Ti-Mn-O (CCTM) perovskites for solar thermochemical hydrogen (STCH) production and to demonstrate on-sun hydrogen production through a two-step water-splitting cycle.
The Wexler Group will use quantum-mechanical calculations and thermodynamic modeling to optimize the composition of CCTM perovskites. The work will be conducted with HydroGEN nodes, whose expertise includes synthesizing and characterizing these materials under targeted conditions. One milestone is a hydrogen production rate of one gram per hour using the Arizona State University collaborators’ prototype reactor.
The team will also determine how cation substitution affects the reduction thermodynamics of CCTM-related perovskites. Collaboration with HydroGEN nodes will support proof-of-principle demonstrations for these materials.
The project will include techno-economic analyses of pathways to lower hydrogen production costs. Collaborators at Ohio State University will lead this analysis.
The project began in 2023.