Cost Targets Research Articles

Engineering the interfacial hetero-structure for high-current-density hydrogen evolution

Modulating the hetero-structures with abundant interfaces in catalyst is a feasible but challenging strategy to improve the catalytic performance. In this work, a highly efficient catalyst (R-CoMoOx/Ni (Co)) was prepared with plentiful interfacial structures to accelerate the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), which contained both reduced CoO and MoO2 as a R-CoMoOx substrate and metallic Ni (Co) particles as the catalytic center. The combination of CoO and MoO2 with a Co-O-Mo local structure in R-CoMoOx led to an electron-enriched Co center to catch the dissociated H+, while the abundant interfacial interaction between R-CoMoOx and Ni (Co) could accelerate the charge transfer and then facilitate the production of H2 through a fast Volmer-Tafel pathway. As a result, the integrated R-CoMoOx/Ni (Co) catalyst could drive alkaline HER with ultra-low overpotentials of 16 mV for 10 mA cm−2 (25 °C) and 186 mV for 1000 mA cm−2 (60 °C), respectively, with a good stability over 100 h. Moreover, by coupling with RuO2 electrode in an anion exchange membrane system, it could achieve 1000 mA cm−2 at 1.78 V for overall water splitting with a high energy conversion efficiency of 70.4 %. The H2 production cost at 1000 mA cm−2 was merely $ 0.952 per gasoline gallon equivalent, much less than the target cost of the US Department of Energy.

Using models and maps to inform Target Product Profiles and Preferred Product Characteristics: the example of Wolbachia replacement.

The global prevalence of diseases transmitted by Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, such as dengue, Zika and Yellow Fever, is increasing, but development of promising new mosquito control technologies could reverse this trend. Target Product Profiles (TPPs) and Preferred Product Characteristics (PPCs) documents issued by the World Health Organization can guide the research and development pathways of new products and product combinations transitioning from proof of concept to operational use. We used high resolution global maps of the case and economic burden of dengue to derive programmatic cost targets to support a TPP for Wolbachia replacement. A compartmental entomological model was used to explore how release size, spacing and timing affect replacement speed and acceptability. To support a PPC for a hybrid suppress-then-replace approach we tested whether Wolbachia replacement could be achieved faster, more acceptably or at a lower cost if preceded by a mosquito suppression programme. We show how models can reveal trade-offs, identify quantitative thresholds and prioritise areas and intervention strategies for further development. We estimate that for Wolbachia replacement to be deployable in enough areas to make major contributions to reducing global dengue burden by 25% (in line with 2030 WHO targets), it must have the potential for cost to be reduced to between $7.63 and $0.24 (USD) per person protected or less. Suppression can reduce the number of Wolbachia mosquitoes necessary to achieve replacement fixation by up to 80%. A hybrid approach can also achieve fixation faster and potentially improve acceptability, but may not justify their cost if they require major new investments in suppression technologies. Here we demonstrate the value dedicated modelling can provide for interdisciplinary groups of experts when developing TPPs and PPCs. These models could be used by product developers to prioritise and shape development decisions for new Wolbachia replacement products.

Unlocking Profit Potential: A Study on Target Cost Management Guidelines for Micro, Small, and Medium-Sized Enterprises

The purpose of this research was to examine the guidelines for target cost management. Data was collected from 400 Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises in Thailand by questionnaire mail survey. The key informants were accounting executives. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was employed as a statistical technique to test the research relationships. The results revealed the guidelines for target cost management. The highest means consisted of customer orientation, design process management, product life cycle cost management, value chain management, target price strategy, and teamwork development. The analysis results of the structural equation model were satisfied through the evaluation criteria with the following parameters: Chi-square probability of 0.134, relative Chi-square of 1.133, correlation index of 0.961, and root index of the mean square of the error estimate of 0.018. To improve and increase the benefits of target cost management, executives need to determine how to implement target cost management in a business. Thus, firms need to create a business vision, be aware of competitive forces, and manage organizational changes through outstanding restructuring, redesign, and re-engineering of their practices, operations, functions, and strategies in order to meet target cost management implementation requirements. Further research is needed to expand and validate the benefits of this study. Investigating other populations, especially in Southeast Asia, is necessary to confirm the findings’ applicability. Different results in future studies may limit the study’s generalizability. With an empirical verification of the research relationships, this study attempted to conceptualize of TCM. This research also confirmed existing literature of dynamic capability theory in which firms implement TCM as a valuable source of their business competitive. This study underscores the importance of Target Cost Management (TCM) as a strategic tool for pricing and cost control, providing valuable insights for firms in volatile markets, particularly in Thailand.

Economic viability of decentralised battery storage systems for single-family buildings up to cross-building utilisation

Due to the great cost decrease of photovoltaics as well as battery storage, especially in the segment of decentralised home storage, the number of grid-connected battery-supported photovoltaic systems being installed in recent years is steadily increasing. However, the scientific community has intensively discussed that lithium-based battery storage systems cannot yet be operated economically in most cases. This paper addresses the level to which the cost of lithium battery storage needs to decrease in order to be economically viable. For this purpose, the economic viability of battery storage systems in single-family buildings, multi-apartment buildings and across-buildings is analysed on the basis of a linear optimisation model and the method of the internal rate of return. The utilisation of the storage system is optimised for different battery and photovoltaic capacities on the basis of generation and consumption. The internal rate of return method is used to compare the savings resulting from the reduced consumption from the electricity grid with the investment costs and the operation and maintenance costs. In order to be able to estimate the influence of the most important parameters a sensitivity analysis is also carried out. The analysis concludes that, depending on the combination of capacities of photovoltaics, battery storage and in relation to the load profile, the battery storage costs would have to drop by at least 85% in order to generate a certain predefined return over a depreciation period of 25 years. Furthermore, the more different load profiles can be covered directly with photovoltaic electricity, e.g. in a multi-apartment building or across buildings, the less electricity needs to be stored and this reduces the benefit and the utilisation of the battery storage and therefore the specific investment costs must further decrease. Another conclusion that emerges from the sensitivity analysis is that the electricity price and the spread between the electricity price and the feed-in tariff have the greatest influence on the investment costs and profitability. Due to limited space for photovoltaics and simultaneously high consumption, self-consumption is already quite high with cross-building utilisation and can no longer be increased to the necessary extent by the battery storage system, which is why the investment costs must also be lower. The novelty of this paper lies in particular in the fact that it deals with the target costs of battery storage systems in various scenarios for certain rates of return. The analyses in this paper are intended to provide a deeper understanding of the framework conditions for the economic operation of a battery storage system in the aforementioned scenarios. However, this paper does not take into account alternative sources of income other than savings on grid consumption. The possibility of time-variable (grid) tariffs, for example, is also not considered in detail in this paper and should be analysed further in future work.

Green Quality Management and Green Target Costing and Their Role in Achieving Competitive Advantage

This study mainly aims at the extent of the possibility of achieving integration between green cost management techniques, including green quality management and green target costing, and the extent of the possibility of achieving many benefits from this integration, including environmental benefits as well as economic benefits for the company and achieving competitive advantage. We have concluded that companies can achieve competitive advantage by adopting the proposed model of integration between green quality management and green target costing, with the use of green value engineering in excluding non-value-adding activities and enhancing value-adding activities, which contributes to enhancing customer value and reducing costs, as well as providing environmentally friendly and differentiated green products.

Achieving Highly Durable Intermetallic PtMn3N Electrocatalyst via the Strong Metal‐N Bonds toward Oxygen Reduction Reaction

AbstractPt‐based intermetallic compounds have been considered promising electrocatalysts in the practical applications of fuel cells; however, the development of Pt‐based catalysts that meet performance targets of high activity, maximized stability, and low cost remains a huge challenge. Herein, an atomically ordered and low‐Pt intermetallic nitride (PtMn3N) catalyst are synthesized consisting of a strained Pt shell and PtMn3N core on carbon support via the KCl‐matrix protection strategy. The PtMn3N catalyst represents a high mass activity of 0.70 A mgPt−1 at 0.9 V and a specific activity degradation of 4.2% after 5000 potential cycles for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in rotating disk electrode (RDE) testing, which substantially outperformed commercial Pt/C (0.25 A mgPt−1 and 17.4%). Density functional theory calculations reveal that the introduction of Mn elements to the Pt lattice is beneficial to produce appropriate compressive strain to weaken the binding energy of oxygen species and the introduction of N elements to promote the strong metal‐N interactions is conducive to alleviating the dissolution of metal atoms, allowing for displaying the prominent durability. This work provides an effective strategy of N‐doped Pt‐based intermetallic compounds to enhance the corrosion resistance of 3d transition metals and to enhance the ORR performance.

Batch-sizing and machinability data systems for milling operations: An optimal sustainable cost of quality approach

Nowadays, manufacturers make every effort to achieve a higher quality of their products at an attractive cost. With all the introduced legislation and incentives in the developed world to address global warming, machining shops in the West also strive to cut greenhouse emissions. This article offers an optimal approach to the micro Computer-Aided Process Planning (CAPP) problem to optimize the internal quality cost and buffering effect while keeping the environmental impact low. To optimize the machining parameters, the mathematical model is developed for different milling operations, face, side, and peripheral. cutting speed, feed rate, axial depth of cut, radial depth of cut, nose radius, and batch sizing while maximizing profit and meeting customer demand. A Mixed-Integer Nonlinear Programming (MINLP) model is formulated and solved using Classical Constrained Nonlinear Optimization (CCNO) and Genetic Algorithms (GAs). Surface roughness, used as a metric to evaluate the desired quality level of a finished machined part type, is modeled as a Gaussian random variable to model the surface roughness of the machined part utilizing a cumulative normal distribution. The ratio of rework and scrap is calculated in terms of the surface roughness of the machined part shifting away from the target and exceeding upper and lower specification limits. The internal failure cost model, addressing both scrap and rework, is developed based on Taguchi’s quadratic loss function. CCNO is employed to validate the results obtained by GAs, relaxing the lot-sizing integrality constraint and, thus, the convexity of the produced relaxed model. An iterative method employing a developed multi-regression model is used to solve for the expended power consumption (an inherent highly nonlinear environmental criterion of the developed model) within both GAs and CCNO. This study reveals that the machining parameters substantially impact the cost components of the objective function as well as the scrap and rework quantities. A stringent quality cost target can force the model to optimize the feed rate and nose radius to minimize the internal failure quality cost while improving the environmental impact, including direct and indirect power consumption and CO2 emissions considerations.

Dynamic Gradient Boosted Metaheuristic approach for efficient reinforced concrete structure optimization

Structural optimization remains a time-consuming and challenging task, particularly for reinforced concrete structures. Surrogate modeling, a subset of machine learning, has emerged as a promising approach to mitigate the computational burden of structural analysis. However, the use of surrogate modeling also introduces additional challenges, especially the risk of prediction errors due to a small training database. This paper introduces a novel framework, Dynamic Gradient Boosted Metaheuristic Method (DGBM), to address this challenge and enhance optimization efficiency. DGBM integrates Light Gradient Boosted Machine (LightGBM) as a surrogate model for structural analysis, along with a modified Symbiotic Organisms Search (SOS) algorithm, effectively exploring the search space to discover optimal solutions. Its innovative features include LightGBM screening, dynamic training, design modifications, adaptive correction mechanisms, and integration with ETABS. The current study aims to leverage the strengths of machine learning and metaheuristics to significantly reduce the computational cost associated with traditional optimization methods while minimizing the impact of prediction errors. These enhancements refine and expedite the optimization process, making it more applicable to real-world design scenarios. The effectiveness of DGBM is evaluated through case studies on practical reinforced concrete structures, the proposed framework consistently achieves the target cost and delivers results 42.5 % faster in case 1, 57.1 % faster in case 2, and 25 % faster in case 3 compared to the next best method. This advantage translates to faster design iterations and increased efficiency for engineers, empowering them to explore a broader range of design options and achieve optimal solutions for complex structures in a shorter timeframe.

Harnessing solar energy for sustainable green hydrogen production in Türkiye: Opportunities, and economic viability

Hydrogen emerges as a promising solution for Türkiye, offering opportunities to enhance renewable energy production and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Türkiye has significant potential for green hydrogen production, leveraging its abundant renewable energy resources and lower installation costs for renewable energy-based power plants.This study assesses the impact of capital expenditure (CAPEX) on the Levelized Cost of Hydrogen (LCOH) in Türkiye, focusing on both current and projected costs. The LCOH ranges from $3.79/kgH2 to $5.11/kgH2 for low and high CAPEX scenarios, given Türkiye's solar electricity cost of $40.32/MWh in 2024. Looking ahead to 2035, achieving Türkiye's hydrogen cost target of $2.4/kgH2 will require reducing electricity costs to $31/MWh for low CAPEX and $15.3/MWh for high CAPEX. The current electricity cost of $40.3/MWh is significantly above these targets, highlighting the need for substantial technological advancements and cost-reduction strategies to meet future economic objectives for sustainable hydrogen production.

Strategic Management Accounting Techniques and Their Role in Enhancing the Market Share of Private Banks Operating in Baghdad

This study aims to examine strategic management accounting practices and their influence on increasing the market share of private banks based in Baghdad. In order to achieve the objectives of the current research, the researcher followed the steps of the descriptive analytical method as an approach to the current research through a sample of workers in private banks amounting to (137), according to a set of variables. In order to collect the necessary data and information, a questionnaire was designed consisting of three parts, the first about demographic variables and the second. On strategic management accounting techniques and the third on market share. After applying the current research tool, the study reached the following results: 1-There is a high level of use and employment of strategic management accounting techniques in private banks operating in Baghdad?, 2- There is a good level of market share for private banks in Baghdad, 3-There is no effect of the two techniques (activity-based costing and target costing) in enhancing the market share of private banks in Baghdad.4- The use of benchmarking techniques has an impact on improving the market share of private banks operating in Baghdad.

Advancing Flexible Sensors through On-Demand Regulation of Supramolecular Nanostructures.

The evolution of flexible sensors heavily relies on advances in soft-material design and sensing mechanisms. Supramolecular chemistry offers a powerful toolbox for manipulating nanoscale and molecular structures within soft materials, thus fostering recent advancements in flexible sensors and electronics. Supramolecular interactions have been utilized to nanoengineer functional sensing materials or construct chemical sensors with lower cost and broader targets. In this perspective, we will highlight the use of supramolecular interactions to regulate and optimize nanostructures within functional soft materials and illustrate their importance in expanding the nanocavities of bioreceptors for chemical sensing. Overall, a bridge between tissue-mimicking flexible sensors and cell-mimetic supramolecular chemistry has been built, which will further advance human healthcare innovation.

Analysis of the Application of Target Costing in Managing Production Costs to Increase Profits in the Solo Medan Sausage SME

The implementation of target costing by an UMKM trader aims to reduce total costs from the previous total costs so that the company can get maximum profits without having to increase its selling price. This research aims to analyze whether the application of the Target Costing method in managing production costs at Solo Medan Sosis UMKM can optimize profits as expected. This research was conducted using a qualitative and descriptive approach method and was carried out in the city of Medan starting in December 2023. The results of this research show that by using the Target Costing method the required production costs can be minimized so that the profits obtained can be further optimized in accordance with the company's expectations. without increasing product prices. So the conclusion is that the Target Costing method can be an alternative for Solo Medan Sosis UMKM in determining production cost.

Sustainability-aware measurement design: How to select the right measuring system

Environmental sustainability assessment has been establishing itself as a requirement when selecting any good or service. This approach also applies to the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure, and to Measurements, which represent integral components of ICT. This means that, in the measurement design, the traditional parameters of target uncertainty and costs should be accompanied by environmental sustainability ones.To address this aspect, among the steps of the measurement design process, this paper focuses on the selection, for a given measurand, of the most suitable measuring system from a sustainability perspective. Specifically, to guarantee also consistency of the approach, the proposed methodology is developed within a framework that takes into account the pillars of measurement uncertainty (i.e. the Guide to the Expression of Uncertainty in Measurement, GUM) and those of sustainability assessment (i.e. the ISO14000 family of standards).As a case study, three resistance measuring systems are compared under different simulated and experimental scenarios. The obtained results demonstrate how, through the incorporation of sustainability considerations alongside metrological performance criteria, this methodology facilitates a holistic approach to the selection of measuring systems, promoting environmentally conscious practices within the field of Metrology.

The Influencing Factors of the Benefits of Operation Cost Management in Service Industry in Shandong

The business community in the service industry is generally unaware of operation cost management and lacks a technique for managing operation costs. The rising expenses of human resources, materials and equipment, rent, and real estate are among the most significant challenges in the service industry. This paper aimed to study the influencing factors of the benefits of operation cost management in the service industry in Shandong. The objectives of the study were: 1) To examine whether human resource costs affect the benefits of operation cost management in the service industry in Shandong; 2) To examine whether material and equipment costs affect the benefits of operation cost management in the service industry in Shandong; and 3) To examine whether rental costs affect the benefits of operation cost management in the service industry in Shandong. This study adopted the quantitative research method. In this study, a total of 378 questionnaires were distributed, with 325 valid questionnaires, and the validity rate was 85.97%. The population consisted of service industry companies in Shandong Province, including restaurants, retail, healthcare, education, and training businesses. Based on the target cost theory, this paper found that: 1) Human resource costs have a significant positive effect on the benefits of operation cost management in the service industry in Shandong; 2) Material and equipment costs have a significant positive effect on the benefits of operation cost management in the service industry in Shandong; and 3) Rental costs have a significant positive effect on the benefits of operation cost management in the service industry in Shandong. For recommendations, operation cost management in the service industry should focus on the following aspects: 1) Optimizing human resource costs; 2) Rationalizing material and equipment costs; 3) Improving rental costs.

Limiting Current Density in Water Vapor-Fed Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Electrolyzers

Polymer electrolyte membrane water electrolyzers (PEMWE) are a critical technology in development for addressing the need for efficient hydrogen production. In order to make hydrogen a cost-effective fuel or industrial feedstock, the overpotentials across the cell needs to be decreased and platinum-group metal loading reduced. Devising novel electrode structures that enable ultra-high current densities at low oxygen evolution reaction (OER) catalyst (e.g. Iridium oxide) loadings is one approach to achieving efficiency and cost targets. One of the overpotentials that needs to be addressed is due to mass transport limitations within the porous transport layer (PTL) and anode catalyst layer, which could be a limiting factor at ultra-high current densities. When operating at ultra-high current densities, the rate of the OER may reach a point at which oxygen gas bubbles fill the pores of the anode catalyst layer PTL, blocking access of liquid water to the anode catalyst layer. Because of this, there is a possibility that the cell will rely on water vapor diffusion through the evolving oxygen gas to deliver the water reactant to the OER catalyst. To assess the limitation of a PEMWE while relying on water vapor diffusion, a commercially manufactured membrane electrode assembly (MEA) was tested by flowing water vapor into the anode as the reactant. With the aim of identifying a limiting current density (LCD) of the electrolyzer under these conditions, potentiostatic polarization curves were obtained for a range of relative humidities (RH) and back pressures. The RH was varied to assess the impact of reactant concentration on the LCD, while the back pressure was varied to identify the impact of the molecular gas diffusion coefficient on the LCD. In this presentation, we will present our analysis of the significance of the water vapor diffusion transport resistance through the pressure-dependent resistance evaluation. Furthermore, we will discuss application of this approach to evaluating the impact of vapor operation on membrane water transport and OER reaction kinetics.

(Invited) Nitrogen-Doped High-Entropy Alloy as Efficient and Stable Electrocatalyst

The development of Pt-based catalysts for use in fuel cells that meet performance targets of high activity, maximized stability, and low cost remains a huge challenge. The high-entropy alloy (HEA) is one of the most promising candidates for electrocatalysts, owing to their unique properties involving the high entropy effect, lattice distortion effect, sluggish diffusion effect, and “cocktail” effect.1 Alternatively, nitrogen (N)-doping effects have been well documented and demonstrated in our previous studies, which further fine-tune the adsorption energetics of intermediates and improve the corrosion resistance by the pinning effect of metal-nitrogen bonds.2-3 Combining the HEA and N-doping strategies, the tailored lattice and interstice atomic sites lead to the formation of chemically stable multiple metal-nitrogen (M-N) bonds and the generation of the possible synergistic effect on promoting ORR performance. Herein, we report a N-doped high-entropy alloy (HEA) electrocatalyst that consists of a Pt-rich shell and a N-doped PtCoFeNiCu core on a carbon support (denoted as N-Pt/HEA/C). The N-Pt/HEA/C catalyst showed high mass activity of 1.34 A mgPt -1 at 0.9 V for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), which substantially outperformed commercial Pt/C and most of the other binary/ternary Pt-based catalysts. The N-Pt/HEA/C catalyst also demonstrated excellent stability in both rotating disk electrode (RDE) and membrane electrode assembly (MEA) testing. Using operando X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) measurements and theoretical calculations, we revealed that the enhanced ORR activity of N-Pt/HEA/C originated from the optimized adsorption energy of intermediates, consequent of the tailored electronic structure formed upon the N-doping. Furthermore, we showed that the multiple metal-nitrogen bonds formed synergistically improved the corrosion resistance of the 3d transition metals and enhanced the ORR durability.References Yao, Y.; Dong, Q.; Brozena, A.; Luo, J.; Miao, J.; Chi, M.; Wang, C.; Kevrekidis, I. G.; Ren, Z. J.; Greeley, J.; Wang, G.; Anapolsky, A.; Hu, L., High-entropy nanoparticles: Synthesis-structure-property relationships and data-driven discovery. Science 2022, 376 (6589), eabn3103.Zhao, X.; Xi, C.; Zhang, R.; Song, L.; Wang, C.; Spendelow, J. S.; Frenkel, A. I.; Yang, J.; Xin, H. L.; Sasaki, K., High-Performance Nitrogen-Doped Intermetallic PtNi Catalyst for the Oxygen Reduction Reaction. ACS Catalysis 2020, 10 (18), 10637-10645.Zhao, X.; Cheng, H.; Song, L.; Han, L.; Zhang, R.; Kwon, G.; Ma, L.; Ehrlich, S. N.; Frenkel, A. I.; Yang, J.; Sasaki, K.; Xin, H. L., Rhombohedral Ordered Intermetallic Nanocatalyst Boosts the Oxygen Reduction Reaction. ACS Catalysis 2020, 11 (1), 184-192.

Developing Methods to Interrogate Nanomaterials in Action for Electrochemical Energy Conversion Reactions

We are observing unprecedented growth in electrified processes at industrial scales for the production of fuels and chemicals. This includes the production of hydrogen, carbon-based molecules (e.g. CO, ethylene), and ammonia, among others. Nevertheless, a number of technical challenges remain in order to meet cost targets for these technologies to scale. Understanding nanomaterials under reaction conditions is essential to designing and developing systems with improved performance and durability, addressing key needs. This paper will describe efforts to understand electrified interfaces at the nanoscale, ranging from fundamental systems to applied systems, and doing so under relevant operating regimes. Methods include X-ray techniques to observe the chemical dynamics of catalysts, vibrational spectroscopy and neutron reflectometry to monitor electrified interfaces at the nanoscale, microscopy to observe mass transport and crystallization within porous media, and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry to quantitatively measure corrosion phenomena. The development and implementation of these in-situ/operando techniques are providing the insights needed to advance these emerging technologies towards more widespread commercialization.

Advancing Low-Cost Iron Redox Flow Batteries for Grid Storage

Iron-based redox flow batteries are promising and low-cost energy storage technologies for grid level showing the potential to meet DOE’s cost targets LCOS, $0.05/kWh due to its natural abundancy and eco friendliness. Iron deposition process has a parasitic hydrogen evaluation reaction (HER) controlling the storage capacity and efficiency. HER reaction imbalances the electrolyte composition and causes durability issues. Our present study shows how the performance of the iron flow battery can be increased by introducing advanced 3D electrodes and engineered electrolytes.This work was performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344. Funding was provided by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Grant 22-DR-014. IM release number: LLNL-ABS-858432

(Invited) Battery Manufacturing Needs from the Perspective of DOE's Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office

The Department of Energy’s Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office (AMMTO) continues to invest in energy storage research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) to help stakeholders improve efficiency, cut costs, and make materials, components, and systems with superior performance. Despite recent promising advances, manufacturing capabilities are still necessary to meet the expected demand for batteries as we move toward a clean energy economy. Strengthening the domestic manufacturing supply chains is also another important task to pursue in parallel. A multi-pronged approach is required to strengthen domestic battery manufacturing and reduce time to commercialization and deployment of transformative technologies. AMMTO recognizes a number of unmet needs that need to be addressed including development of manufacturing processes and equipment that take advantage of the most recent technical advances as well as effective utilization of data-driven analysis and experimentation to assist in manufacturing optimization.In this talk, AMMTO’s perspective on energy storage technology development and manufacturing will be discussed, highlighting current gaps and challenges that need to be addressed. In addition, there will be a robust discussion of a wide variety of DOE’s efforts in the context of technical and manufacturing challenges regarding scale-up and performance that still prevent the electrochemical energy storage community from achieving cost targets and commercial viability.

(Invited) Comparing and Contrasting the Advantages and Challenges of Catalysts for Low Temperature AEM, AEL, and PEM Electrolysis

Electrolysis has been promoted as a critical route to enabling green hydrogen and a broader US Department of Energy supported H2@Scale vision enabling a clean, economic and sustainable energy system.1 Low temperature electrolysis offers advantages over high temperature electrolysis in high temperature materials challenges, limited intermittency capabilities, thermal integration, lower manufacturing and technology readiness, steam conversion and separation challenges.2 Within low temperature electrolysis anion exchange membrane (AEM), (liquid) alkaline (AEL) and proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolysis are the three primary electrolysis technologies being investigated.These electrolysis environments are different and the catalyst materials they employ, and the cost, natural abundance, performance, and durability limitations are all different. These factors have a significant impact on the research focus and needs for each of these competing technologies. This presentation will explore catalysis in each one of these systems and compare critical limitations of each.The PEM system depends on Ir for anode (OER) catalysis. Ir is expensive and one of the least abundant elements in the earth’s crust. While earth abundance of Ir may is a potential concern for projections of electrolysis needs,3,4 the ability to thrift Ir more efficiently and achieve improved durability are critical for achieving hydrogen cost targets. Specific features impacting the cost, performance and durability trade-offs of Ir in PEM electrolysis will be discussed in terms of hydrogen levelized costs and the research advances necessary to have a positive impact on PEM electrolyzers.AEM and AEL electrolysis are distinct in terms of the concentration of supporting (KOH) electrolytes being investigated and the types of electrodes typically employed. AEM electrolyzers typically work at 1M KOH concentrations or below and employ thin film electrodes with alkaline ionomer as a parallel to most PEM designs. AEL electrolyzers typically operate at high (30 wt% KOH) concentrations and consist of electrodes deposited onto metal substrates rather than deposited as a thin film onto the membrane/separator. The materials sets and some of the performance and durability challenges of each of these systems are similar. They also have challenges at both the anode and cathode, where as PEM cathodes operate highly efficiently and durably with low loadings of Pt. The primary advantage of alkaline systems is the ability to enable highly earth abundant electrocatalysis, but challenges remain for performance and durability tradeoffs. These aspects as well as their implications for hydrogen levelized cost will be presented along with target research needs. https://www.energy.gov/eere/fuelcells/h2scale.Alex Badgett, Mark Ruth, Bryan Pivovar, “Economic considerations for hydrogen production with a focus on polymer electrolyte membrane electrolysis,” Electrochemical Power Sources: Fundamentals, Systems, and Applications, 2022, 327-364.Cortney Mittelsteadt, Esben Sorensen, and Qingying Jia, Ir Strangelove, or How to Learn to Stop Worrying and Love the PEM Water Electrolysis Energy Fuels 2023, 37, 17, 12558–12569.Mark Clapp, Christopher M. Zalitis, Margery Ryan, Perspectives on current and future iridium demand and iridium oxide catalysts for PEM water electrolysis, Catalysis Today 420 (2023) 114140.