The hydrogen energy sector is set to become a multi-billion-dollar global industry. The UK is at the forefront in several areas with advanced plans for gigawatt scale low carbon hydrogen production, a programme investigating the conversion of natural gas networks to hydrogen, and various ongoing trials for fleets of hydrogen-fuelled cars, buses and vans.
Royce recognised hydrogen as a key materials challenge and it produced the Materials for End-to-End Hydrogen report in 2021, which identified the most valuable materials research areas to accelerate the energy transition, with the intention to catalyse further collaboration across organisations.
Since then, the Royce Hydrogen Accelerator has been established to leverage the work currently ongoing to establish the hydrogen economy in the UK, with focus on improving the stages of production and end-use to make it a commercially viable energy source for a net-zero future.
Whilst there is a huge amount of potential, there are some considerable challenges the industry is facing to allow hydrogen production to be viable. This blog focuses on three key areas where these challenges are evident.
Making Hydrogen
There are four principal routes to produce green hydrogen, and all involve water electrolysis (solid oxide (SOE), alkaline (AE), proton exchange (PEM) and alkaline exchange technologies (AEM)). Each route has their own pros and cons in relation to capital expenditure and operating costs,
levels of efficiency, and ability to operate with an intermittent power supply.
A combination of electrolysis routes will be needed to take advantage of the potential make-up of the future UK electricity grid.
Specific materials challenges in relation to hydrogen production are:
Catalysts – Substitution or reduction in platinum group metals (PGM), improved and alternative non PGM based catalysts. Better methods to deposit catalysts on membranes and validate through observation (improved characterisation techniques) and inference (conductivity, porosity etc.)
Electrodes – improved and novel electrode design including separate cathodes and anodes (and alternatives to producing oxygen and substituting for higher value by-products).
Membranes – thinner and more robust membrane materials ideally with a shift away from forever chemicals like PFAS (organo-fluorine polymers)
Recycle and design – Routes for recycling and re-use of all elements of the electrolyser stack, and new cell designs and architectures.
Balance of Plant – improvements to converters, improved reverse osmosis (RO) membranes within water purifications systems, improved efficiencies for purification and pressurisation systems.
Distributing Hydrogen
Hydrogen will need to be stored and distributed at scale to meet future infrastructure needs. With the permeability challenges this presents, materials will need to be protected or upgraded (e.g. novel low permeability 2D materials) to address this.
Other challenges to be addressed pertain to protecting materials from long term degradation, cryogenic handling, and minimising any entrainment of impurities, especially for the following components:
Storage vessels:
- Conformable materials for mobile transportation outside of limits of high-pressure migration to exclusively spheres or cylinders.
- Large scale geological and buffer tankage storage solutions.
- Cryogenic storage of liquid hydrogen and ability to manage temperature cycling of this in operational cycles.
- Wider scale use of electrochemical pumps to meet increased pressure demands for gaseous hydrogen.
Pipelines:
- Upgrades to existing infrastructure enabled through application of low permeability coatings.
- Development of alternative materials (e.g. 2D materials) to confer low permeability on existing polymer (PE, PP) based pipelines.
- Ability to address weak points in system around welds.
- Accelerated ageing tests and identification of performance proxies to warn of impending failures.
Compressors:
- Durability assessments of existing compressor set and potential to upgrade versus need to install new improved compressors.
- Technologies to monitor operational performance.
Pumps:
- Especially for cryogenic / liquid hydrogen refilling of aircraft etc where tribology, embrittlement and cavitation present issues.
Valves and seals:
- Improved valves and seals particularly for cryogenic applications
Detectors:
- Improved materials for destructive and non-destructive hydrogen-based detectors.
- Development of smart materials and coatings to integrate sensing capabilities into the infrastructure.
Using Hydrogen
Energy generation, the chemicals sector, transport sectors (e.g. heavy-duty transport, marine, aviation) and foundation industries (cement, metals, glass, paper, ceramics, chemicals) will be likely adopters of hydrogen.
The associated materials challenges relate to the following processes and end-use applications:
Purification – point-of-use hydrogen purification to meet end-use needs requires improved membranes and pressure swing adsorption materials.
Compression and liquefaction – electrochemical hydrogen compressors, limiting boil off, improved efficiency of ortho to para conversion in liquid hydrogen & sensing technology to measure it.
Power generation – hydrogen combustion and managing impure streams (e.g., through the linear motor type applications). Improvements in fuel cell performance and durability. The materials challenges faced by fuel cells which are broadly similar to electrolysers.
Chemicals – improved processes and catalysts to enable co-production technologies for key chemical feedstocks. If for example co-electrolysis could be carried out alongside chemicals production, it would eliminate the need for costly and complex hydrogen storage.
Transport – cost effective tankage for heavy duty (HD) transport, improved catalysts for alternative carriers (e.g., NH3) for marine, ground side logistics and jet engine materials to support aviation
Foundation Industries – on-site production, buffer storage, combustion and downstream impact of impurities on infrastructure (burners, kiln bricks etc) and finished product e.g., glass, ceramic etc.).
Addressing Hydrogen Materials Challenges: Royce Hydrogen Accelerator
The Royce Hydrogen Accelerator (RHA) has been designed by Royce to tackle materials challenges which are constraining the hydrogen supply chain. It bridges the gap in the existing innovation landscape between lab-based materials research and proven technologies executed at scale. The RHA also brings together a network of key voices from government, industry, academia and investment.
The RHA connects the UK’s already thriving business, research and innovation ecosystem for hydrogen materials with a broad, international investor base to provide access to funds and boost the potential for the UK to become an influential player in the global hydrogen market.
For more information on RHA, read more here.
Royce has partnered with Conception X to provide entrepreneurial training to potential “PhD Founders” in the Hydrogen field with ambitions to commercialise their research, as part of Conception X’s 2025 cohort. More information can be found here. Applications to join the cohort close on 2nd February 2025.