Low carbon hydrogen is crucial for decarbonizing energy, transport, and carbon-intensive industries. The MOF2H2 project aims to produce it sustainably through photocatalytic water splitting, using non-noble materials as a game-changing solution.MOF2H2 is a research and innovation project funded by the European union under the Horizon Europe programme. It aims to develop a world-record efficiency for sun-driven clean hydrogen production reaching 5% solar-to-hydrogen efficiency, using metal organic framework (MOF) as photocatalysts. MOF2H2 will gather different EU and international partners (including, ESPCI, CNRS, UNIVERSITAT POLITECNICA DE VALENCIA, UNIVERSITY OF MONTPELLIER, UNIVERSITY OF CAEN NORMANDIE, TECHNION, UNIVERSITEIT MAASTRICHT) for 36 months, including some of the best researchers in the world in their fields, for demonstrating three lab-scale photocatalysis prototypes with fine-tuned materials dedicated to hydrogen production, hence reaching TRL4.PATHWAY TOWARDS IMPACT : MOF2H2’s first ambition is making available breakthrough and game changing renewable energy technologies enabling a faster transition to a net-zero greenhouse gas emissions EU economy by 2050.To this end, green hydrogen is key but currently represents only 0.1% of total hydrogen production worldwide (The Future of Hydrogen. IEA, 2019). Green electrolysis and blue hydrogen are the main candidates to reach hydrogen targets, however they both have issues, and especially a high OPEX due to respectively connection with intermittent electricity, and subsequent capture and storage of CO2. Indeed, for green electrolysis, integration of up to 15% of intermittent renewable can be managed with some flexibility into the grid, at relatively low cost.MOF2H2 will contribute to this impact by developing and demonstrating a breakthrough and game changing solution for direct renewable hydrogen production: sun-driven OWS using MOFs. It will be demonstrated at TRL4 at the end of the project. This solution will be able to provide green hydrogen of high purity, at lower operating costs and unprecedented efficiency, hence contributing to the reduction of cost and the improvement of the efficiency of renewable energy and renewable fuel technologies and their value chains. Furthermore, MOF2H2 partners will collaborate with hydrogen consumers from different sectors to ensure that hydrogen produced by direct sun-driven OWS is appropriate for them, but also with hydrogen producers, using not only technological results but also the sustainability assessment and economic potential. This will contribute to both de-risking the renewable energy and fuel technologies with a view to their commercial exploitation and net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and to a better integration of renewable energy and renewable fuel-based solutions in energy consuming sectors. MOF2H2 will provide knowledge and scientific proofs of the technological feasibility, by demonstrating the performances of the MOFs for OWS and their operation in a TRL4 system. Thanks to modelling in tandem with advanced characterisation, the partners will develop an unparalleled in-depth understanding of the photocatalytic behaviour of MOFs for OWS, but also for other photocatalytic reactions (e.g. CO2 reduction). Environmental, social and economic benefits in line with the European Green Deal priorities: thanks to the pre-assessments done early in the project, the partners will establish guidelines to ensure the sustainability of the solution developed. Also, all technological developments will be balanced with Environmental Life-Cycle Assessment, Social Life-Cycle Assessment and Techno-Economic Assessment results, hence contributing to enhance sustainability of renewable energy and renewable fuels value chains. Increased knowledge will lead to more effective market uptake of renewable energy and fuel technologies as well as contributing to accelerate the development of a global H2 market by identifying and overcoming key technology barriers to the production, distribution, storage, and use of H2 at GW scale. MOF2H2’s third expected impact concerns the establishment of a solid long term dependable European innovation base. MOF2H2 gathers some of the most eminent researchers in their fields and show a perfect complementarity to carry out the project activities, from research to market, and from technological improvement to consideration of social and environmental sciences. Achieving the performances mentioned in previous paragraph, the consortium will be pioneer in MOF-based OWS. This is emphasised by the current MOF patent application.The different dissemination means will aim at bringing MOFs under the spotlight of industrial groups that will see the huge potential of such materials, probably leading to other patents. Indeed, MOFs have already shown great promises for many applications (carbon capture, gas storage, chemical separation, and (photo)catalysis), and it is expected that the fundamental knowledge gained in MOF2H2 will boost the promotion of MOFs at the market by proposing novel MOFs with improved performances in many key sectors for achieving a net-zero greenhouse gas emissions EU economy by 2050. Until now, industrial uptake and commercial exploitation of MOFs have been restricted by the lack of large-scale supply and/or high product costs. Better meeting industrial expectations, partners will develop an optimised MOF synthesis, also towards a greener process compatible with upscaling, enabling the global demand for MOFs as photocatalysts (and in energy applications) to be met.
