Hanwha Solutions is stepping up efforts to accelerate commercialization of water electrolysis technologies.

Hanwha Solutions announced on Feb. 1 that it has recruited Jeong Hoon-taek, a senior researcher at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), as the head of its Center for Hydrogen Technology Research.

Jeong received his master's and doctorate degrees in materials science from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) and studied the core materials and systems of hydroelectric and fuel cells for more than 14 years at the LANL after a post-doctorate course at the Tokyo Institute of Technology. The LANL is one of the world's largest research labs on national security, aerospace, renewable energy, and supercomputers.

Jeong will take the lead in the development of next-generation water electrolysis technology based on the anionic exchange membrane (AEM) method. Hanwha Solutions aims to commercialize the technology by 2023. The plan is to speed up research and development (R&D) activities that have been carried out with Yonsei University, the KAIST and RPI in the United States since 2019. Hanwha Solutions plans to achieve the world's best economic feasibility in green hydrogen production by 2023.

If the water electrolysis technology proves economically feasible, Hanwha Solutions will secure global top-tier competitiveness in the entire value chain of producing, storing, transporting, and charging hydrogen. The Q-Cell Business Division will generate renewable energy through solar and wind power while the Advanced Material Business Division will be tasked with storing and transporting hydrogen along with Cimarron, a U.S. high-pressure tank company recently acquired by Hanwha Solutions.

This article is reproduced at www.businesskorea.co.kr