UT startup to scale hydrogen fuel cell tech with UT seed fund investment
In Texas, the University of Texas said that Discovery to Impact, the group overseeing the UT Seed Fund and research commercialization at The University of Texas at Austin, has invested in Celadyne Technologies, a materials science and energy systems startup from UT’s Cockrell School of Engineering.
Celadyne will use the $250,000 investment from the UT Seed Fund to advance hydrogen’s role in securing critical defense and industrial applications while building a more resilient energy economy. Celadyne’s dual-use technology strengthens hydrogen’s domestic supply chain and enables advances in self-sustaining vehicles and operations in remote locations, the UT said.
“Celadyne Technologies is creating a path toward cheaper, more efficient devices that will expand hydrogen adoption to power defense, transportation and manufacturing,” said Mark Arnold, associate vice president for Discovery to Impact and managing director of Longhorn Ventures. “We are excited to add them to our portfolio of University-backed startups that are turning research discoveries into world-changing solutions.”
The UT noted that for hydrogen to significantly contribute to the world’s energy supply, hydrogen devices such as fuel cells and electrolyzers need to become less reliant on critical materials, more efficient, simpler to manufacture, and less expensive to achieve large-scale adoption.
Celadyne Technologies is solving these challenges with advanced materials by redesigning the membrane at the heart of hydrogen devices. Hydrogen electrolyzers and fuel cells rely on membranes for conductivity and gas separation. However, existing membranes suffer from poor durability, low efficiency, and critical safety challenges — particularly when hydrogen permeates the membrane, forming explosive mixtures with oxygen, which Celadyne Technologies directly mitigates. Its two membrane products, Dura and Electra, help devices work faster, withstand higher temperatures, and last longer, the UT added.
Category: Research
