UB awarded $1.25 million grant to create clean energy research hub

BUFFALO, N.Y. – Developing critical infrastructure for the emerging hydrogen fuel economy. Building energy-efficient microelectronics. Reducing the steel industry’s carbon footprint. Manufacturing the next generation of sustainable solar panels.

All are ambitious projects that University at Buffalo researchers and partner organizations will advance thanks to a new $1.25 million grant from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

UB will use the award, which was championed by U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, to establish a research center that taps into the university’s expertise in materials science, advanced manufacturing, artificial intelligence and other fields.

The center will leverage partnerships with IBM, Linde, National Fuel and other firms – all in an effort to discover new materials that support upstate New York’s transition to an economy focused on clean energy, semiconductor research and manufacturing, artificial intelligence and other industries.

“On behalf of UB, I would like to thank Senator Schumer for his support for federally funded academic research, including this $1.25 million congressionally directed spending request. With Senator Schumer’s support, this new Center for Accelerated Innovation through Materials will establish a materials innovation hub that will help UB lead the state and nation’s transition to a clean energy economy.”

The Center for Accelerated Innovation through Materials (AIM) will be led by Krishna Rajan, ScD, Erich Bloch Chair of the UB Department of Materials Design and Innovation.

“With this funding, UB will establish a materials science research hub that connects industry, educational, workforce and community partners to state-of-the-art equipment and faculty expertise that accelerates the transition of cutting-edge technology into goods and services that benefit the American people,” says Rajan, who is a SUNY Distinguished Professor and SUNY Empire Innovation Professor.

UB will use the grant to purchase equipment – microscopes, spectrometers and more – to study in real-time the behavior of materials when exposed to gases and other environmental conditions. It will also fund the studies of graduate students, and support workforce training programs.

Initially, the center will target several areas of research, including developing infrastructure for hydrogen-based fuels, which are a green energy alternative that has the potential to supplant fossil fuels that power plants, vehicles, buildings and other systems rely upon.

Researchers will work with industry to explore new materials for pipelines to safely and effectively transport hydrogen fuel, which degrades when exposed to stainless steel and other materials commonly used in natural gas pipelines.

Another area of research will be microelectronics. The growing demand for computing power, including supercomputing facilities that support AI systems, is taxing the nation’s energy grid. AIM researchers will explore new materials for chips and other electronic components that more efficiently use electricity.

AIM also will work with the iron and steel industries, which account for 7% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, according to the Department of Energy. These industries could reduce their emissions by using hydrogen fuel instead of fossil fuels when converting iron ore to iron. AIM will work on new materials and processes for this transition.

The center will also study use AI and high-performance computing – specifically the fields of computational chemistry and materials informatics – to sleuth for eco-friendly materials to be used in solar cells.

A unique aspect of AIM, Rajan says, is that it integrates its experimental infrastructure with materials informatics, AI and high-performance computing to accelerate innovation in discovery and design of materials to establish a clean energy economy.