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Congresswoman Debbie Dingell (MI-06) today announced the University of Michigan has been selected by the Department of Energy (DoE) to receive up to $1 million to support a project that will advance critical technologies for producing, storing, and deploying clean hydrogen. In this project, UM aims to develop high efficiency, low cost, and ultrastable production of green hydrogen fuels directly from sunlight and water, utilizing gallium nitride (GaN), a material widely used in LED lighting and electronics industry, to stabilize the surface of perovskite materials to simultaneously overcome the efficiency and stability bottleneck of solar hydrogen production, while promising extremely low cost and scalable manufacturing.

This project will also involve collaboration with and support from DoE National Labs through the HydroGEN consortium.

“Researchers at the University of Michigan are doing groundbreaking work that is moving America closer to our net-zero carbon emissions future,” said Dingell. “This funding from the Department of Energy will help us develop and expand advanced technologies that will bring down the cost of clean hydrogen energy, especially in heavy transportation and industry, two areas that are crucial to address in order to meet our climate goals.”

"This research supports the DoE’s mission of reducing the cost of clean hydrogen to one dollar per one kilogram in one decade,” said Zetian Mi, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Michigan. “It's truly a carbon neutral approach."

Clean hydrogen — which is produced with zero or next-to-zero carbon emissions — can leverage all our nation’s clean energy resources, including renewables, nuclear, and fossil resources with carbon capture. Clean hydrogen can also support the expansion of clean electricity by providing a means for long-duration energy storage and offering flexibility and multiple revenue streams to all types of clean power generation — including renewables, today’s nuclear fleet, advanced nuclear, and other innovative technologies. By enabling the development of diverse, domestic clean energy pathways across multiple sectors of the economy, hydrogen development will strengthen American energy independence and accelerate the American manufacturing boom that has already created over 800,000 jobs since President Biden took office.

Learn more about the projects selected for funding here. 

Selection for award negotiations is not a commitment by DOE to issue an award or provide funding. Before funding is issued, DOE and the applicants will undergo a negotiation process, and DOE may cancel negotiations and rescind the selection for any reason during that time.