National Renewable Energy Laboratory

Hydrogen and Fuel Cells Research

NREL's Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Research Organization

NREL's hydrogen and fuel cell research efforts support DOE's Fuel Cells Technologies Program. Because the fundamental science behind hydrogen and fuel cell systems crosscuts NREL's renewable energy technologies, many of the research centers at NREL contribute to this work.

NREL's hydrogen and fuel cell research is coordinated through the Hydrogen Technologies and Systems Center. The center partners with core research areas at NREL, DOE, and other national labs to implement the National Hydrogen Energy Vision for America's clean and secure energy future.

NREL's hydrogen and fuel cell research is conducted in eight technical topics. Technical Leaders work closely with NREL's technology manager for its Hydrogen, Fuel Cells & Infrastructure Technologies Program and with NREL's group manager for its Hydrogen Technologies and Systems Center to guide and prioritize NREL's hydrogen and fuel cells research efforts. The research staff is drawn from the centers for Hydrogen Technologies & Systems, Electric Systems, Energy Sciences, Transportation Technologies & Systems, and Buildings & Thermal Systems as well as the National Bioenergy Center, the National Center for Photovoltaics, and the National Wind Technology Center.

• NREL's hydrogen production & delivery R&D focuses on advanced technologies for producing hydrogen from renewable energy sources.
• NREL's hydrogen storage R&D focuses on advanced carbon-containing materials for compact, lightweight, high-density hydrogen storage.
• NREL's fuel cells R&D simulates fuel cell systems via computer-aided engineering to identify critical design issues that will contribute to the development of robust and durable fuel cell systems. NREL is also researching and developing specialized materials for fuel cell components.
• NREL's analysis R&D provides analyses across DOE's Hydrogen Program including technoeconomic analysis, life cycle assessment, vehicle system analysis, and hybrid power systems analysis.
• NREL's technology validation R&D focuses on coordinating and supporting hydrogen fuel cell vehicle fleet and infrastructure demonstration and validation projects.
• NREL's education R&D focuses on developing and expanding education opportunities, materials, and curricula for K-12 teachers and managing DOE's Hydrogen, Fuel Cells & Infrastructure Technologies Program Web site.
• NREL's safety, codes & standards R&D is working to facilitate the creation and adoption of model codes and equipment standards for hydrogen systems. In addition, researchers are leading efforts to adopt uniform requirements for hydrogen purity.
• NREL's manufacturing R&D is developing measurement techniques for quality control of fuel cell manufacturing processes.