Elliot Padgett is a researcher in NREL's Chemistry and Nanoscience Center. His research aims to advance low-cost, renewable hydrogen production through polymer electrolyte membrane electrolysis, especially through understanding degradation and improving durability for next-generation, low-platinum-group-metal electrolyzers.

Before coming to NREL, Elliot was an Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education science and technology policy fellow in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office. He completed his doctorate at Cornell University, where he researched the impact of automotive fuel cell catalyst nanostructure on performance and durability using electron microscopy. 

Research Interests

Low-temperature water electrolysis and fuel cells 

Electrochemistry 

Electron microscopy 

Education

Ph.D., Applied Physics, Cornell University  

M.Sc., Applied Physics, Cornell University 

B.A., Physics, Swarthmore College