RD20 is an international research and development framework by major research institutes in the G20 countries and regions that develop cutting-edge technologies to achieve carbon neutrality.
RD20 secretariat promotion team will deliver monthly articles introducing RD20 member institutions. The second issue will introduce the Japanese research institute NIMS.

The Energy and Environmental Materials Research Center (GREEN) of NIMS

One of the institutions participating in RD20 from Japan is the National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS). The Energy and Environmental Materials Research Center (GREEN), one of the NIMS’s seven research centers, is working with the Structural Materials Research Center and other organizations to develop materials for decarbonization.

NIMS’s Carbon Neutral Project

In the NIMS Environmental Report 2023, the “Carbon Neutral Project” is introduced as one of the three key projects that NIMS is working on. Refer to following URL/Link.
→URL/Link: https://www.nims.go.jp/nims/disclosure/hdfqf10000001742-att/hdfqf100000017dp.pdf
＊only in Japanese

An overview of the NIMS’s Carbon Neutral Project is introduces using the relevant text quoted from the ‘Environmental Report 2023’ below.
In order to decarbonize, there is an urgent need for the effective use of renewable energy and the construction of hydrogen infrastructure. The targets of this project are “storage batteries,” “solar cells,” and “hydrogen-related materials and technologies.” “Storage batteries” and “solar cells” will be approached using a data-driven research and development method. We are developing oxide all-solid-state electrolytes with high ionic conductivity and searching for electrode materials and liquid electrolytes for high-energy-density storage batteries. In addition, we are taking on the challenge of drastically improving the power generation efficiency of perovskite solar cells by controlling the complex factors in the device manufacturing process. On the other hand, in the area of hydrogen, we are conducting multifaceted research and development, including the development of a magnetic refrigeration system that enables highly efficient hydrogen cooling and liquefaction, the search for materials, the search for electrocatalysts for water splitting using data mining method, and the pursuit of scientific principles on hydrogen brittleness of structural materials. In addition, with a view to the use of hydrogen energy, we are developing a characteristic prediction program to design high temperature materials using data-driven materials research method.

One of the environmental research activities – “Development of an Innovative Hydrogen Liquefaction Technology —Potentially Bringing Practical, Cost-Effective Magnetic Refrigeration Systems into Reality—”

In addition, the Environmental Report 2023 introduces ” Development of an Innovative Hydrogen Liquefaction Technology —Potentially Bringing Practical, Cost-Effective Magnetic Refrigeration Systems into Reality—” as one of the environmental research activities.
This is a project on the technological development of practical ‘liquefaction’ technology for hydrogen energy and is being conducted by NIMS, together with Kanazawa University and National Institute of Technology (KOSEN), Oshima College, as a part of the Mirai Program of the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST).
In the research and development into practical ‘liquefaction’ systems for hydrogen energy by magnetic refrigeration, the workings were developed to provide a magnetic field change with little heat generation by moving magnetic materials in and out of the magnetic field which is created by superconducting magnet. Furthermore, by developing a heat exchanger optimized for active magnetic regenerative refrigeration (AMRR), which can expand the cooling operating temperature range as compared with conventional magnetic refrigeration method, an AMRR cycle which can be stable at the hydrogen liquefaction temperature has been achieved and hydrogen liquefaction by AMRR has been successfully achieved for the first time in the world.
The NIMS report states that future efforts to increase the output and efficiency of magnetic refrigeration are expected to lead to the utilization in the global society of low-cost and energy-saving hydrogen liquefaction plants.

→Press Release URL/Link Development of an Innovative Hydrogen Liquefaction Technology | NIMS

→Applied Physics Express https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.35848/1882-0786/ac5723