According to a press release issued by the university, the project is part of a clean energy initiative President Bush discussed in his State of the Union address. Bush’s plan calls for a 22 percent increase in clean energy research and has allocated a $19 million competitive nationwide grant to aid the development of improved membranes.

Tim Armstrong, hydrogen and fuel cell manager at Oak Ridge National Laboratories, said the hardest part of bringing hydrogen-powered vehicles to the masses will be having hydrogen available. He said it will be some time before the public sees large numbers of hydrogen cars on the road.

“I doubt we’ll see anything until 2020.”

Mays agreed that it will be years before fuel cells replace gasoline in cars and said there are several different hurdles to overcome. They include “a need to find cheaper ways to produce hydrogen” and “better ways to store and transport hydrogen.”

“It is a big challenge,” Mays said. “But so was going to the moon and unlocking the power of the atom.”

Mays said another need is for “cheaper polymer membranes that are more efficient, last longer, and work at higher temperatures.” That’s where Mays’ team comes in. Their project seeks to improve membranes that are currently used.

“The membrane is between the anode and the cathode in the fuel cell. On the anode side molecular hydrogen is broken into protons. The membrane is a proton exchange membrane,” Mays said. “It allows the protons to pass through to the cathode side where they react with oxygen, producing water and releasing energy.”