Topics
late
AI
Amazon
Image Credits:JOHN MACDOUGALL/AFP / Getty Images
Apps
Biotech & Health
Climate
Image Credits:JOHN MACDOUGALL/AFP / Getty Images
Cloud Computing
Commerce
Crypto
A sample of Celadyne’s membrane sits inside a display case in the company’s lab.Image Credits:Celadyne
Enterprise
EVs
Fintech
Fundraising
Gadgets
Gaming
Government & Policy
Hardware
layoff
Media & Entertainment
Meta
Microsoft
privateness
Robotics
surety
societal
outer space
Startups
TikTok
shipping
speculation
More from TechCrunch
Events
Startup Battlefield
StrictlyVC
Podcasts
video
Partner Content
TechCrunch Brand Studio
Crunchboard
Contact Us
H suffer from the classic chicken - and - egg trouble : There ’s not enough requirement to coax provider into the plot , and there ’s not enough supplying to facilitate sufficient demand .
One startup thinks it has a solvent for both side .
Chicago - basedCeladynehas develop a nanoparticle finishing that can be applied to live fuel prison cell and electrolyzer membranes . The material could drastically improve the durability of survive fuel cell designs while also improving the efficiency of hydrogen production by 15 % to 20 % , said Gary Ong , the ship’s company ’s founder and CEO .
Celadyne recently raise a $ 4.5 million source troll , TechCrunch has exclusively learned . The round was pass by Dynamo Ventures and Maniv with participation from EPS Ventures . The funding will be used for construct more of the material so the companionship can fly the coop more tests to prove its durability and efficiency .
As Ong was ferment through his other business organization plans , he heard from some experts who argued in favor of undertake the demand side first while others recommend for the supply side .
“ The verity of the matter is that it ’s in reality both , ” Ong told TechCrunch . “ We think that hydrogen needs to happen for industrial decarbonization , and we ’re really disquieted that everyone else is tackling one side of the trouble , not the other side . ”
To make hydrogen to employ it , engineers launch the same basic chemical reaction in one direction or another . campaign it one fashion , and you use electrical energy to produce hydrogen and oxygen from piss . This is bonk as an electrolyzer . Run it the other way , and you produce electrical energy and H2O from H and O . This is known as a fuel cell . Fuel cellular telephone and electrolyzers each have tweak to help them ladder their one-half of the cycle more expeditiously , but at heart , they ’re basically the same designing .
Join us at TechCrunch Sessions: AI
Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI
In both , there ’s a risk of atomic number 1 sneak across the proton - interchange tissue layer ( PEM ) that separate one side from another . If atomic number 1 does cover over , it reduces the durability of fuel cells and can create dangerous condition in electrolyzers .
Since the membrane still needs to be permeable to hydrogen , scientists ca n’t block the proton solely . Instead , they endeavor to slow the pace of crossing over . unremarkably , that think of increasing the thickness of the tissue layer . Unfortunately , thicker membrane rob the system of efficiency , and they do n’t totally solve the durability gainsay that face fuel jail cell . Since hydrogen is n’t gaudy to produce , every little bit reckoning .
Celadyne enjoin its applied science allow for thinner tissue layer . According to a patent filed by the party , the membrane are cake with a pellucid metal oxide , like titanium oxide . To make the finished material , Celadyne inserts a step into the traditional roll - to - roll cognitive process for membrane production . “ The rest of it is uphold , ” Ong said . That should serve lower overall product toll .
The Inflation Reduction Act ply a gullible hydrogen product taxation credit of $ 3 per kilogram of hydrogen , and using that , Celadyne ’s finish can lower the monetary value of hydrogen production to $ 1 per kg today , Ong said . That ’s a toll at which many conceive H will become competitive with fossil fuels for a range of applications .
Ong said Celadyne is in talking with self-propelled company and has sent them membrane materials for validation . ( Toyota is n’t an investor , but it did advise the inauguration as part of the Sputnik Accelerator program . ) Celadyne has also signed a flock with a grid partner in the Northeast for an electrolyzer undertaking .
The inauguration will initially trade tissue layer materials to automotive and truckage company for use in their fuel cells . With the revenue from those sales , it plans to begin building electrolyzers in the 1MW to 10MW range , and then sell them to utilities and oil and gas pedal company .
Celadyne ’s business manikin cleverly address both incline of the chicken - and - ballock job , though its achiever in either will depend heavily on its ability to surmount yield of its nanoparticle coating . The fellowship has its work cut out : Tackling both sides of the market , particularly one that ’s as developing as hydrogen , is a steep challenge for a seeded player - stage startup . Then again , startup do n’t succeed by take low .
