Hydrogen & Fuel Cells

Sandia conducts a broad spectrum of research in the hydrogen arena.  In the area of Transportation Energy, our focus is on hydrogen materials and engineering challenges (REACH) and hydrogen safety, codes and standards.

REACH

Sandia has established the Research, Engineering, and Applications Center for Hydrogen (REACH) in the Livermore Valley Open Campus.  This Center is focused on addressing hydrogen materials and engineering challenges through international consortia consisting of the leading research organizations and partners from around the world. The REACH program is organized in the following areas:

• Physics of hydrogen in materials – Our research develops an understanding of reactions on surfaces, hydrogen transport in materials, embrittlement mechanisms, deformation and fracture, and mechanism modeling of hydrogen in materials.
• Engineering analysis – Our programs include codes and standards, life-cycle design methodology development, and predictive simulation for component and system behavior understanding.
• Systems engineering – Our systems engineering efforts provide a bridge between the research and the product.  We work with industrial partners such as automotive OEMs and technology companies to overcome barriers facing the deployment of advanced hydrogen technologies.

Objectives of REACH are to

1. enable international research coordination to address complex challenges in hydrogen materials and systems,
2. perform modeling and experiments to understand behavior of hydrogen in materials,
3. reduce the cost of compent/system qualification, and
4. reduce the cost of high-performance hydrogen compatible materials.

As a part of our REACH mission, Sandia is a member of the International Institute for Carbon Neutral Energy (I²CNER), with specific leadership in the Hydrogen Structural Materials.