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SunHydrogen and University of Iowa expand partnership to accelerate nanotechnology-based hydrogen production

| By Mary Bailey

SunHydrogen, Inc., the developer of a technology to produce renewable hydrogen using sunlight and water, announced that it has renewed and expanded its sponsored research agreement with the University of Iowa funding for the next 12 months. The renewal will provide for a considerable increase in funding and staffing in order to accelerate the development of its nanotechnology-based hydrogen production technology. The expanded R&D team will focus on the development efforts needed to expedite the commercialization of its nanoparticle technology approach to renewable hydrogen.

“The next 12 months will see exciting progress in the development of our technology,” said Tim Young, CEO of SunHydrogen. “The renewal of the agreement and the significant increase in funding will accelerate that development. As we have stated before, our partnership with the University of Iowa has been a key to our success to date. The work completed and the knowledge gained through our years of association with the research team at the University of Iowa will allow us to accelerate our path to commercialization.” 

The timing of the Company’s accelerated development efforts coincides with a significant wave of global investment in renewal technologies. A report, published by Frost & Sullivan in July, forecasts that $3.4 trillion will be invested in renewable technologies by 2030. Powered by a strong momentum behind renewable energy, the power market is heading into the 2020s having come a great distance from the last decade. The 2020s will be a critical decade for one and all in the power industry, as the transition toward renewable energy is expected to increase in volume. “Decentralization, decarbonization and digitalization are the three key pillars of the global energy transition,” says Vasanth Krishnan, senior research analyst of industrial practice at Frost & Sullivan. 

Also, financial market demand for hydrogen technologies and applications has been surging. Over the past 12 months, shares of Ballard Power’s stock have more than tripled in price and the company has committed to raising $250 million through an at-the-market equity issuance. Plug Power stock is up more than 550% and FuelCell Energy shares have rocketed more than 750% over the same 12 months. Nikola, the Phoenix-based zero-emissions vehicle manufacturer, executed a $12 billion highly visible public offering in June.

Mr. Young continued, “All indications from the investment sector point toward a significant commitment to the funding of our industry. The timing could not be better for our development process. We believe that our nanotechnology hydrogen technology will be a game changing breakthrough.  Because of the current interest in the sector, we anticipate that abundant funding will be available facilitate our development acceleration and commercialization. We are committed to making the hydrogen economy a reality and it appears that there is substantial investment interest to support the future of renewable hydrogen.”

The agreement with the University of Iowa currently covers the extensive development work to complete and commercialize the company’s nanoparticle hydrogen production panels that will deploy a highly economical solar-to-hydrogen efficiency and has the potential of changing the way we think about energy production.  The work will continue to be led by Professor Dr. Syed Mubeen, (University of Iowa) and Dr. Joun Lee, (SunHydrogen).