Advancing efficient, high-throughput, and high-quality manufacturing methods and processes for hydrogen technologies
The Roll-to-Roll (R2R) Consortium aims to advance efficient, high-throughput, and high-quality manufacturing methods and processes for hydrogen technologies to accelerate domestic manufacturing and reduce the capital cost of durable and high-performing systems.
High-throughput manufacturing of fuel cells and water electrolyzers is critical for achieving widespread deployment of low-cost hydrogen technologies. Roll-to-roll manufacturing of materials can increase efficiency, reduce material waste, and improve cost, but there are challenges related to materials synthesis, coating, drying, and quality control that need to be addressed to de-risk and scale up these processes for industry adoption.
The R2R Consortium focuses on understanding the science of manufacturing processes to achieve target rates, yields, and product quality. Goals include understanding material and process behavior to advance methods to increase energy efficiency, reduce material usage, reduce waste, and reduce equipment cost in manufacturing processes, as well as enabling high-throughput manufacturing processes.
Download the R2R Consortium presentation from the 2024 Annual Merit Review and Peer Evaluation Meeting to learn more about the consortium’s leadership and research activities.
Organization
The R2R Consortium is led by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and includes Argonne National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and Sandia National Laboratories.
An industrial advisory board provides guidance on the consortium's research objectives and topics and fosters engagement between the broader R2R industry and fuel cell and electrolyzer manufacturers and materials suppliers.
R2R is funded by the Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office through provisions in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
Research
The core labs in the R2R Consortium conduct research, development, and demonstration activities in six topic areas. The first three topics address manufacturing challenges that are critical for the growth of the hydrogen industry, and the second three are cross-cutting activities that will integrate with the research on manufacturing challenges:
- Materials scale-up science
- Membrane electrode assembly fabrication process science
- Quality control
- Characterization
- Advanced computing
- Techno-economic analysis.
The consortium also supports industry efforts through cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA) projects between private sector entities and the national labs.
Contact
For more information on the R2R Consortium, contact R2RConsortium@nrel.gov.