The U.S. Department of Energy's Advanced Manufacturing Office (AMO) and Fuel Cell Technologies Office (FCTO) celebrate in honor of back-to-back National Manufacturing Day (October 7) and National Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Day on October 8, commemorating the atomic weight of hydrogen (1.008)—the lightest and most abundant element in the universe. FCTO plans to add $1 million for hydrogen and fuel cell topics related to the AMO-supported multi-lab consortium on roll-to-roll manufacturing capabilities.

The four-lab consortium currently includes Oak Ridge National Laboratory, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Argonne National Laboratory, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The consortium will provide a materials-genome-driven fabrication, modeling, simulation, processing, and manufacturing effort to demonstrate the feasibility of process controls and scale-up of roll-to-roll manufacturing. The effort aims to address specific industry challenges through cost-shared Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADAs) with industry partners and ultimately enable development of a competitive, domestic supply chain.