"The E-TAC team is a wonderful example of why we should celebrate dramatic scientific achievements" it was stated in the reasons for the award
The Royal Society of Chemistry today awarded the Horizon Prize in the field of materials chemistry to a group of researchers from the Technion who developed E-TAC - an innovative technology for the fast, cheap and safe production of green hydrogen, which is considered the fuel of the future. Green hydrogen is hydrogen produced without carbon emissions, and according to the association's announcement, the technology developed at the Technion is expected to "dramatically accelerate the pursuit of an economy without carbon emissions."
Upon receiving the award, Technion researchers join the ranks of renowned researchers and developers who have won awards from the Royal Society of Chemistry, including 50 Nobel laureates.
The development of the technology was led by PProf. Gideon Gerder from the Wolfson Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Prof. Avner Rothschild from the Faculty of Materials Science and Engineering, both are members of the Technion Grand Energy Program, along with Technion graduates Dr. Chen Dotan, head of Prof. Rothschild's research team, and Dr. Abigail Landman, who was a joint doctoral student under the guidance of Prof. Gerder and Prof. Rothschild.
According to Prof. Gerder, "When we heard about winning the award, we had a hard time believing it, but then the doubt was replaced by a great sense of achievement. We are aware of the length of the road that is still ahead of us - the road to translating the technology into industrial facilities for the production of green hydrogen. Therefore, along with the joy of receiving the award, we feel the weight of responsibility - our responsibility to support further development and lead the technology to the finish line."
Dr. Helen Payne, head of the Royal Society of Chemistry, said that "many of the great achievements in the science of chemistry are the result of teamwork and collaborations that harness diversity in thinking, experience and skills to create amazing achievements. These synergies expand our understanding of the world around us. The E-TAC team is a wonderful example of why we should celebrate dramatic scientific achievements, and we are very proud to honor their contribution today."
E-TAC technology was developed at the Technion and a scientific article on the subject was published for the first time in the prestigious journal Nature Energy in 2019. The joint project began within the Center of Excellence (I-CORE) for research in solar fuels and focused on the development of a photoelectrochemical system for the solar production of hydrogen and oxygen in separate cells. The initial support for the research came from an ERC-PoC grant from the European Commission for Research in the European Union, and later a grant from the Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure, support from the Nancy and Stephen Grand Energy Program at the Technion (GTEP) and a donation from Ed Suttle were added.
On the basis of E-TAC technology, the start-up company H2PRO working to translate the invention to a commercial scale. The company was established by Technion researchers with entrepreneur Talmon Marko and his group and began operating in early 2019. H2PRO received an exclusive license to commercialize the technology from 3T, the commercialization unit of the Technion.
The process developed by H2PRO enables cheap, fast and safe production of green hydrogen using green electricity from renewable energies (water, wind and sun) with an efficiency of about 95%. At the end of 2021, the company completed a fundraising round of $75 million led by the TEMASEK fund from Singapore and the HORISONS fund from Hong Kong, this after a previous fundraising round led by the Breakthrough Energy Ventures fund, whose investors include Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos.
The Royal Society Award was awarded to the research team: Prof. Rothschild, Prof. Garder, Dr. Dotan, Dr. Landman, Ziv Erzi (who was eligible for a master's degree in the Faculty of Materials Science and Engineering under the guidance of Prof. Rothschild, Coral Cohen (who was an undergraduate student in the faculty of Materials Science and Engineering), Dr. Elena Davidova (senior researcher in Prof. Rothschild's research group), Neta Gal (who was an undergraduate student in the Faculty of Materials Science and Engineering), Dr. Daniel Garba (who was a senior researcher in the research group of Prof. Rothschild and currently a senior lecturer at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev), Noam Hadari (who was an undergraduate student at the Faculty of Materials Science and Engineering), Maner Halavi (who was an undergraduate student at the Wolfson Faculty of Chemical Engineering), Yossi Halpern (paying for a master's degree at the Faculty of Science and Engineering of Materials under the guidance of Prof. Rothschild), Noya Hayek (who was eligible for a Master's degree in the Faculty of Materials Science and Engineering under the guidance of Prof. Rothschild), Dr. Kirtiman Dao Malavia (who was a postdoctoral student in Prof. Rothschild's research group), Dr. Stafford Sheehan (who was a visiting researcher in Prof. Rothschild's research group), Dr. Gennady Shetter (senior researcher in Prof. Gerder's research group), Ilya Slobodkin (paying for a master's degree in the Faculty of Materials Science and Engineering under the guidance of Prof. Rothschild) and Nashathan Yehudai (who was a student for the degree First in the Faculty of Materials Science and Engineering).
to honorJournal of the Royal Society of Chemistry
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One response
It's a shame you didn't detail the technology itself.