Cooperative Agreement DEEE0011323

This federal Cooperative Agreement award, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) under the Renewable Energy Research and Development program (CFDA 81.087), is aimed at accelerating the discovery, design, and laser convergent manufacturing of low-temperature (< 650C) oxygen-conducting solid oxide electrolyzer cells (LT-O-SOECs). The goal is to achieve performance targets of at least 1.2A/cm2 at 1.3 V/cell with a degradation rate of 3 mV/khr. The total funding amount is $4,902,057, with the award period running from September 1, 2024, to August 31, 2025.

The project involves several key objectives, including designing and validating novel electrolyte, electrode, and buffer materials, establishing machine learning models to predict and design high-performance LT-O-SOECs, and demonstrating the ultra-fast, laser-selective convergent manufacturing of large-area (> 15 cm2) membrane electrode assemblies. Additionally, the project includes a Community Benefits Plan to help ensure equitable impacts across U.S. communities. Sub-awards have been made to Siemens Corporation to develop computational models for crack-free laser manufacturing, and to the University of Cincinnati and Advanced Manufacturing LLC to support material synthesis and cybersecurity aspects of the project, respectively.