A startup based on work conducted at the School of Engineering and Technology at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) has received a federal grant to develop a system that could affect how solid-state hydrogen fuel is stored.
Peter Schubert, professor of electrical and computer engineering and director of the Richard G. Lugar Center for Renewable Energy, founded Green Fortress Engineering Inc. The company has received a one-year STTR Phase I grant of $225,000 from the National Science Foundation to develop its storage technology. The award includes IUPUI as a subcontractor, and the School of Engineering and Technology will perform the deep technical research.
Schubert says the NSF grant will allow Green Fortress Engineering to achieve two goals. "First, we will perform the first gaseous recharge of a solid-state hydrogen storage media, which will serve as validation of the theoretical work leading up to the grant," he says. "We will also explore the pathway to lower-cost starting materials, including polycrystalline silicon and metallurgical-grade silicon. Using these less-expensive materials could make solid-state hydrogen storage available to every economic market."
Schubert disclosed the technology to the Indiana University Research and Technology Corp., which protects, markets and licenses intellectual property developed at Indiana University so it can be commercialized by industry. IURTC licensed the technology to Green Fortress Engineering, which was launched in the 2015-16 fiscal year as a member of IURTC's Spin Up entrepreneurial program.
For more information, visit: www.iu.edu
