California Catalysts (Calicat), formerly H2U Technologies, announced that generation 3 of its flagship product, the Amplifier zero-iridium PEMwe OER catalyst, has achieved an unprecedented activity milestone of 2 Volts at a current density over 2 A/cm². This breakthrough performance represents a long-sought step change in the pursuit of cost-effective green hydrogen production, the company says.

Calicat’s gen 3 Amplifier reaches 2 A/cm² below 2 Volts.

Efforts to eliminate iridium from PEM electrolyzers have long been hindered by trade-offs between activity and durability. While many non-iridium catalysts (such as ruthenium) have shown sub-2V initial activity, they experience unacceptable voltage drift under real-world current densities. Amplifier stands apart by delivering both exceptional performance and durability. In a still-running durability experiment, Amplifier has achieved more than 15,000 hours of operation with an industry-leading voltage drift of just 4 µV/hr.

Green hydrogen is a critical pillar for decarbonizing hard-to-abate sectors, but the industry’s reliance on scarce and expensive materials has created a bottleneck for widespread adoption. Compounding issues, the lack of domestic supply for iridium has resulted in untenable price volatility spikes in the last 5 years. Amplifier addresses these twin challenges head-on, finally delivering a domestically available catalyst that produces lower-levelized-cost Hydrogen when coupled directly to renewable energy sources.

Amplifier Gen 3 represents the commercialization of four years of rigorous R&D, leveraging AI-driven material discovery and high-throughput experimentation to eliminate our sector’s looming rare metals threat. By delivering iridium-beating durability alongside high activity, we are empowering our customers to plan their Green Hydrogen ambitions unburdened by price volatility.

—Jourdan Urbach, CEO of Calicat

Tokyo Gas, one of the largest city gas providers in the world, aims to achieve 50% carbon neutrality in both local gas supply and power operations by 2040. The company is actively developing core components for water electrolysis systems that reduce the cost of hydrogen production and improve durability, including catalyst coated membranes. An R&D Engineer at Tokyo Gas commended Calicat’s performance breakthrough as a crucial milestone for commercialization.

Based on years of research at Caltech funded by the Department of Energy, Calicat uses AI alongside proprietary material testing methods to discover and evaluate low-cost electrocatalysts, increasing the pace of sustainable material development and reducing costs by orders of magnitude.