Oak Ridge National Laboratory performs research that addresses the barriers facing the development and deployment of hydrogen and fuel cells, with the ultimate goals of decreasing our dependence on oil, reducing carbon emissions, and enabling clean, reliable power generation.
Through collaborative research and development, ORNL is creating materials and technologies to establish a hydrogen infrastructure and for hydrogen storage onboard vehicles. As part of these efforts, researchers are developing steel-concrete composite underground storage tanks and low-cost carbon fiber.
ORNL is the Department of Energy’s (DOE) leading resource for characterization of fuel cell materials through electron microscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Researchers also conduct studies of infrastructure deployment scenarios and fuel cell vehicle market analysis to provide data for industry leaders and policy makers to use in strategic decision-making.