The founder of reticular chemistry and the founder of artificial molecular machinery join hands to overcome the challenge hindering the wider adoption of hydrogen as a viable clean fuel, ultimately help tackling global warming and climate change.
Irvine, California, 12 March 2024: Nobel laureate Professor Sir Fraser Stoddart, awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2016 for the design and synthesis of artificial molecular machines and Professor Omar Yaghi, founder of Reticular Chemistry and awarded the Albert Einstein Award of Science in 2017, have joined forces founding H2MOF, a US-based company with the mission to design and develop durable and efficient solid-state hydrogen storage solutions that work under ambient temperature and low pressure.
Despite an increasing penetration of renewables into the energy system in recent years, the energy system of today is still vastly fossil based, thus contributing to the ongoing climate crisis. H2MOF considers the wider adoption of hydrogen as a crucial stepping stone towards a truly sustainable and decarbonized energy system.
“Hydrogen fuel has the highest energy density among all combustible fuels; at the same time, it has zero emissions”, explains Sir Fraser Stoddart, co-founder of H2MOF, and continues: “these reasons are amongst the key drivers toward considering hydrogen energy as the best choice for a sustainable and clean future for humankind”.
Today, storing hydrogen often involves compressing or liquefying it by cooling it down. These conversions use a significant amount of energy and therefore are inefficient and expensive. H2MOF takes a different approach, capitalizing on decades of discoveries and advancement in reticular chemistry and artificial molecular machinery to develop novel materials designed with atomic precision to tackle the challenging properties of hydrogen molecules.
“Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe. It’s the lightest element, and therefore it is very challenging to store and transport in an efficient and safe way”, says Professor Omar Yaghi, co-founder of H2MOF, and continues: “Over the past two decades, I’ve been working on improving the efficiency of hydrogen storage materials based on reticular chemistry, and we’ve made a lot of progress.”
The global demand for hydrogen is expected to increase significantly in the years to come. The European Union (EU) has set ambitious goals, that include the production of 10 million tons of green hydrogen in the EU by 2030. The U.S., too, is investing in hydrogen’s potential to decarbonize the economy. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act allocates USD 8 billion in grants to regional hydrogen projects. The Inflation Reduction Act establishes a tax credit of up to USD 3 per kilogram of hydrogen for production with the lowest associated emissions.
Reticular chemistry, and specifically MOF technology, has received wide interest and recognition worldwide as a promising technology for solving the hydrogen storage challenge. The US Department of Energy listed MOF technology as a leading technology candidate to solve the hydrogen storage challenge. There are also several research programs that include consortiums from multiple reputable research institutions from multiple European countries, funded by the EU, that focus on MOF technology to develop more efficient hydrogen storage solutions.
Dr. Samer Taha, CEO of H2MOF elaborates: “Our technology aims at significantly cutting the energy penalty associated with storing hydrogen using high-pressure tanks or associated with liquefying hydrogen. Our technology roadmap targets the development of hydrogen storage solutions that can achieve high storage density at ambient temperature and at pressures as low as 20 bar, which is less than 3% of the pressure of some of the high-pressure 700-bar hydrogen storage tanks used in the industry today.” Dr. Taha added that “our technology relies on our novel material that attracts hydrogen molecules towards the nano-scale cavities of the material. This bonding then retains the hydrogen molecules inside the novel material while also allowing for their efficient release when required.”
H2MOF is currently working on the optimization and scaling of the novel material and on the integration of its hydrogen storage solution. Ultimately, the product offerings will be targeting several application areas including long-term storage of hydrogen, storage of hydrogen during long-distance transportation, and - when used as a fuel for transportation - solutions for various means of transportation such as light-duty vehicles, heavy duty trucks, trains, ships, and airplanes.
END
Media contact
Magnus Bach at m.bach@h2mof.com
H2MOF’s Press kit, including headshots and logo, can be found here.
H2MOF’s Press kit, including headshots and logo, can be found here.
BOILERPLATE
H2MOF was incorporated in 2021 by Prof. Sir James Fraser Stoddart, Prof. Omar Yaghi, and Dr. Samer Taha to overcome one of the biggest challenges of the energy transition, which is the safe and efficient storage of hydrogen. The headquarters are in Irvine, California. H2MOF is collaborating with the world-class research teams of Nobel Laureate, Professor Sir Fraser Stoddart at Northwestern University and Professor Omar Yaghi at University of California, Berkeley.
Nobel Laureate, Professor Sir Fraser Stoddart (Co-Founder)
Sir Fraser Stoddart is one of the most influential scientists in the world today in the field of supramolecular chemistry; he is the founder of the artificial molecular machinery field of science and the one who discovered the mechanical bond in the field of supramolecular chemistry.Professor Stoddart has received more than 73 global awards and medals from world leaders and leading scientific organizations for his discoveries and outstanding scientific contributions. Among the top awards are the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2016, the Knighthood by Her Majesty the late Queen Elizabeth in 2007 and the Albert Einstein World Award of Science in 2007.
Professor Omar Yaghi (Co-Founder)
Omar Yaghi is one of the top inventors and among the most-cited chemists in the world today. Professor Yaghi is the founder of the reticular chemistry field of science; among his top inventions are the Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs), Zeolitic Imidazolate Frameworks (ZIFs), Covalent Organic Frameworks (COFs) and the molecular weaving technologies.Professor Yaghi has received more than 55 prestigious global awards and medals throughout his celebrated career, including the Albert Einstein World Award of Science in 2017, the Wolf Price in Chemistry in 2018, the Gregori Aminoff Prize in 2019, and the Ernest Solvay Prize in 2024.
Dr. Samer Taha (Co-Founder & CEO)
Dr. Taha has more than 20 years of experience in R&D, technology commercialization and entrepreneurship in ICT and Nanotechnology. He started his work as an R&D scientist at Intel technology group in Oregon, where he worked for 5 years. Then, between 2007 and 2017, he founded and led the expansion of two startups in the fields of ICT and managed the delivery of more than $200 million of ICT projects. He was later appointed as the Executive Chairman of Revonence, a value-add private equity holding group, where he shifted the focus of the group toward nanotechnology commercialization. Between the years 2018 and 2020, Dr. Taha worked closely with Nobel Laureate, Professor Fraser Stoddart, and his team of scientists, on the scaling and commercialization of the CD-MOFs (Cyclodextrin-Based Metal-Organic Frameworks) technology, the only edible and biodegradable MOF known to date. He also led the development of a manufacturing facility, the first of its kind in the world, based in Irvine, California, for the large-scale synthesis, activation, and integration of the organic nanotechnology CD-MOF.