Tech and business validation towards market readiness of high-performance PFSA-free intermetallic Pt-alloy membrane electrode assemblies for PEMFCs: Enabling next-gen hydrogen-based transport

Introduction

ENABLER's final objectives are to assemble, demonstrate, and test a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) short stack - a functional energy generation device - with reduced platinum content (0.3 mgPt/cm²) and free of perfluorinated sulfonic acid (PFSA) compounds. The goal is to match the performance of the current state-of-the-art PFSA-containing PEMFCs while ensuring market readiness for the technologies.

Project Foundation

The project will lay the foundation for more widespread exploitation of hydrogen power by enabling more efficient use of platinum as a critical raw material. Key aspects include:

1. Providing improved performance and durability with advanced intermetallic Pt-alloy catalyst materials.
2. Achieving higher operating temperatures of PEMFCs (105°C) by replacing conventional PFSA ionomers and membranes with novel hydrocarbon (HC) materials.
3. Removing toxic perfluorinated compounds from PEMFC manufacturing, resulting in a positive effect on the economy and society.

Thus, ENABLER's long-term objective is to improve the commercial viability of PEMFCs and ramp up their mass use to decarbonize transport and energy sectors.

Technical Objectives

ENABLER will reach the technical objectives by designing a set of interrelated activities:

1. Catalyst finetuning to ensure compatibility with the HC materials.
2. CCM production processes finetuning and CCM fabrication with advanced catalyst, HC membranes, and ionomers integrated.
3. Fabrication and validation of single cells and short stacks.

Business Objectives

Business objectives will be achieved through:

• Market validation activities.
• Performance of techno-economic and investment analysis.
• Business plan creation and IPR management activities.

Consortium Structure

The ENABLER consortium is designed to create a non-existing PFSA-free European value chain requiring a minimum of critical resources. Key responsibilities include:

• ReCatalyst being responsible for catalyst and ionysis CCM fabrication.
• EKPO focusing on PEMFC technology.

All partners will work on market readiness to ensure the sustainability of the value chain in the future.