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Polymer MembraneFuel Cell & Electrolyser
Innovation & Patent Review ML-Supported R&D Decision Making for the Fuel Cells & Electrolyser Community
Since 2017, b-science.net is offering a popular information service to facilitate R&D decisions in the Li-ion battery community with the help of a supervised machine learning (ML) approach. We would like to offer this service also to the fuel cells & electrolyser community.
Our ML approach permits for the identification of patent applications with high commercial relevance, which allows for plotting of key technical decisions (innovation decision trees) and processes employed by various players. We also provide inspirations for novel and underexplored R&D approaches.
Our service facilitates the successful launch of new products and is currently relied upon by industrial battery R&D / product management teams, academic research groups and venture capital investors based in America, Asia and Europe. Together with the British consultancy Enabled Future Limited with its background in fuel cells, catalysts & power-to-X, the following categories will be covered:
• Proton Exchange Membrane and Anion Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells (PEMFC / AEMFC) – Electrochemically Active Materials
• Analogous Electrolyser Cells (PEMEL / AEMEL) – Electrochemically Active Materials
Rapid innovation in these categories is of key importance to ramp up green hydrogen production and use, in order to address climate change in a timely and effective manner.
Subscriptions Information
Subscription pricing can be obtained by contacting the content authors, or by requesting a quote on the b-science.net website:
Dr Michelle Lynch at [email protected] Dr Pirmin Ulmann at [email protected]
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Content production will be initiated upon achieving sufficient subscription pre-sales. The first 3 subscribers will receive 8 h of author support instead of 2 h and will have the opportunity to provide input with regards to the table of contents / deep dive chapter titles.
Background
Hydrogen has been chosen as a major part of the toolkit, which will be required to meet the NetZero decarbonisation goals set as part of the obligations in the Paris Agreement to avoid a greater than 1.5°C global temperature rise. As a result, innovation for fuel cells and electrolysers has seen exponential growth in the last decade. However, there are many hurdles to overcome, in particular for polymer membrane based technologies, i.e. polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) and anion exchange membrane (AEM), which are relatively less mature than alkaline electrolysis (AEL). The forthcoming review discusses divergent R&D decisions taken by key fuel cell and electrolyser industry players related to membrane technology. Our approach is based on an ML-supported analysis of recent global patent filings, enriched with information gained from participation at key conferences covering associated topics of hydrogen, power-to-X, fuel cells and electrolysers.
Scope, Methodology & Visualisation Techniques Scope
The review will cover PEM based technology for both fuel cells and electrolysers. In addition, anion AEM will be covered as a secondary topic. Key areas to be covered will be:
• membrane electrolytes, including the backbone polymer technology, catalyst types and coating methods
• gas diffusion electrodes (GDE), including the gas diffusion layers (GDL), hydrophobic layers and catalysts
• bipolar plate technologies
• stack and module configurations
The structure of this report will be based on the following chapters and content:
• Executive Summary: a top line summary with key points and conclusions from each of the chapters contained within the report.
• Introduction: an overview of the market needs and technology environment for fuel cells and electrolysers and the challenges faced by the industry to move to cost-efficient
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commercial technologies at scale, based on which we propose a technology adoption framework.
• Innovation Decision Trees for PEM and AEM Technologies: a set of eight decision trees which set out the innovations described in patents for a set number of developers. Topics covered will include catalyst technology, polymer development.
• Key Developers of PEM and AEM Technologies: technology & patent reviews for 32 companies in the areas of catalyst coated membranes, gas diffusion layers and electrodes, polymer electrolyte developments, bipolar plate design and stack/module configurations.
• Deep Dives on PEM and AEM Technologies: based on subscriber input, key challenges will be further explored with the ambition of providing conceptual & actionable inspirations for novel inventions connected to KPIs.
• Strategic Summary: This chapter draws together the findings from the different analyses in the review and views these in terms of the progress the industry is making to meeting its technology goals. Key strengths and gaps in the innovation landscape will be identified and discussed with a view to inspiring scientists and to providing a guide to potentially fruitful areas of innovation for their future projects.
The full proposed table of contents (TOC) is appended to this prospectus.
The patent information source for this review and related content is the European Patent Office (EPO), which covers patent filings from more than 100 patent offices around the world. The b-science.net database contains patents relating to fuel cells & electrolysers dating back to 1980, but will focus on patent families published since 2019 (earliest document in patent family) in order to reflect the most current state of the art.
ML-based Methodology for Identification of Commercially Relevant Patents
b-science.net has developed a supervised machine learning (ML) methodology to assess the commercial relevance of patents, combined with an automatic translation framework that makes sure non-English patents are also identified. The methodology has been continuously improved since 2017 in multiple Li-ion battery materials & cell categories. We will focus on patent families by commercial / private companies.
Two analogous tables to Table 1 will be produced related to fuel cells & electrolysers.
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Table 1 (excerpt from b-science.net ‘Solid-state Li-ion Battery Innovation & Patent Review’): Number of commercially relevant Solid-State Li-ion Battery Patent Families
Innovation Decision Trees
Innovation decision trees plot how various commercial players take divergent decisions towards launching technically novel products in the market, which frequently constitutes the key entrepreneurial (uninsurable) risk that will determine the competitive position of a company 2-10 years later. In Figure 1, an example of a decision tree is given from the b-science.net ‘High Energy Cathode Innovation & Patent Review’. Prospective fuel cells & electrolyser innovation decision trees:
• Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) catalyst development• PEM electrolysers (PEMEL) catalyst development• PEM bipolar plate composition and construction• PEM membrane architecture development• PEM gas diffusion layer (GDL) development• PEM stack and module configuration development• Anion exchange membrane (AEM) catalyst development• AEM polymer architecture development
Comprehension of the state of the art & corresponding decision trees allows for identification of promising future R&D directions hat have not yet been explored, and for differentiation versus existing players.
Figure 1 (next page, excerpt from ‘High Energy Cathode Innovation & Patent Review’): decision tree – bulk chemical composition / structural class (company names hidden)
Company Country 2019 2020 2021 (until June 3rd)
Total Joint patent filings with companies
Toyota Japan 170 177 40 387 - Aisan Industry - Daiichi Kigenso
Kagaku Kogyuo - Daiichi Seiko - Denso - JFE Steel - Kansai Paint - Konan Gakuen - Kureha - Nihon Spindle
Manufacturing - Ohara - Soken - Toray Engineering
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Companies with at least 5 patent families will be listed in the full review.An Excel file will be provided with all identified patents, ranked according to commercial relevance.
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Process Diagrams
An example of a process diagram generated based on the analysis of a patent portfolio related to membrane fuel cells and electrolysers is shown below in the chapter excerpt on Heraeus.
Technology Overview
Fuel cells are all made up of a cathode, an anode, and a separator / electrolyte layer. Each type of fuel cell looks quite different. If the separator / electrolyte layer consists of a proton exchange membrane (PEM, Figure 2), the electrode catalysts are coated onto either side of a solid membrane electrolyte made of a specially designed polymeric material called perfluorosulfonic acid (PFSA). The industry state of the art uses commercial Nafion PFSA membranes from DuPont (now Chemours). Conventional large scale production methods of depositing the catalyst include spraying, screen printing, knife coating, slot die, and microgravure coating.
Each fuel cell can be operated in forward mode for power, or reverse mode as an electrolyser, although catalysts and other components are usually tuned for one of the two operation pathways. There will be a level of overlap in patents in terms of innovations which apply to fuel cells and electrolysers. The reactions operating inside a water electrolyser are shown below. The two so-called ‘half-reactions’ occur at the electrodes – with water reduced to hydrogen at the cathode and hydroxide ions (OH-) combining at the anode to produce oxygen and water, as well as electrons. In the fuel cell these reactions operate in reverse, hydrogen fuel and oxygen in air react to form water, electricity (and heat).
Whereas the electrolysis reaction requires energy input, the consumption of hydrogen to produce water in fuel cells is exothermic (releases energy). In mobile fuel cells, the energy is converted to power. In stationary fuel cells, both the electricity and the heat are useful products. In electrolysers, oxygen can also be sold as a by-product or used to create further hydrogen from steam reforming of a biorenewable, e.g. biogas or biomass. Collectively, fuel cells and electrolysers constitute a powerful toolkit for decarbonisation of not only the transport sector, but also industrial manufacturing and residential, municipal and commercial buildings.
Hydrogen Evolution Reaction (HER) Cathode: 2 H2O (l) + 2 e- → H2 (g) + 2 OH- (aq)
Oxygen Evolution Reaction (OER) Anode: 2 OH- (aq) → 0.5 O2 (g) + H2O (l) + 2 e-
Overall reaction: H2O (l) ⇄ H2 (g) + 0.5 O2 (g)
ΔG = +237.1 kJ mol−1 (25 °C / 1 atm)
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Figure 2: Basic Schematic of a PEM Fuel Cell
The state of the electrode catalysts performing the above reactions is clearly at the heart of the fuel cell or electrolyser operation. However the remainder of the cell also needs to be considered, in particular the gas diffusion layers (GDL), and bipolar plates.
In order to achieve the required power, output cells are grouped together and arranged in a fuel cell stack and the stacks are grouped together in modules which are then multiplied up and mounted on skids. In this way higher capacities can be reached.
The scale of fuel cells and electrolysers to date have been relatively small. Scale of course depends on the application – for instance a typical fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV), such as the Toyota Mirai, has a fuel cell stack containing ~370 cells with a maximum power output of 114 kW. A fuel cell stationary power stack is somewhat larger – for instance the Doosan 400 kW PureCell stack is made up of sub-stacks each with around 8 cells. When it comes to hydrogen generation, the scale requirements are much higher – with the industry moving from demonstration units of around 10 MW currently, with orders for systems in the 100 MW scale in the pipeline and a recognition that by 2030, the markets will require multi-gigawatt scale units to meet hydrogen demand. The 10 MW ITM Power PEMEL system installed for the EU RefHyne project at the Shell Rheinland refinery in Germany consists of 5 x 2 MW skid mounted modules (Figure 3). Each 2 MW cabinet contains three stacks. 100 MW Systems are in development for RefHyne II. The major issue for PEMEL is the need to reduce the precious metal loadings on the electrodes and in particular the amount of iridium which has a thin supply and is prone to price volatility.
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Figure 3: ITM Power PEMEL Stacks (left) and 10 MW Skid-Mounted PEMEL System (right)
Source: ITM Power
Electrolysers have a broader market scope than fuel cells because green hydrogen will also be used to produce feedstocks for chemicals and fuels. The key product in the near term will be green hydrogen produced via water electrolysis. The scope of this report is focussed on hydrogen. Technologies such as CO2 electrolysis and co-electrolysis, which are mainly served by solid oxide electrolysers (SOEC), are largely not covered although they may appear in the ML model and online b-science.net patent database.
Key Performance Targets
R&D goals for fuel cells and electrolysers have been shaped by the key performance indicator (KPI) targets set for fuel cells and electrolysers, for instance by the United States Department of Energy (US DOE) and the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), based in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Typical parameters relate to cost, efficiency, lifetime of the cell as well as operating parameters – e.g. pressure, ramp time, current density, area footprint and use of critical raw materials (CRM). The KPI targets are set at different levels along the value chain, i.e. one set for catalysts, GDL and separately for the entire stack and the end-use application, e.g. fuel cell vehicles, trains, buses etc. It is helpful to consider the innovations described in patents in terms of their ability to contribute to meeting KPI targets, e.g. GDL thickness, precious metals loadings, efficiencies, current densities, etc. This approach will be employed in particular as part of the analysis in the deep dives section, e.g. for “meeting the gigawatt scale challenge”.
Key Developers Key Developers Overview
The section on key developers will cover each of the 32 companies that make the final selection based on early subscriber feedback. For each company, the patent literature is reviewed and the possible composition of future polymer membrane fuel cells and electrolysers will be highlighted. The unique capability of each of the companies and potential roadblocks will be outlined.
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Example - Extract for Heraeus - Germany
Organisation profile
Heraeus (https://www.heraeus.com, catalyst product pages – fuel cells, electrolysers), based in Hanau (Germany) provides precious metal and specialty metal products to the energy, electronics, environmental, health, mobility and industrial sectors. It provides catalyst powders for PEM electrodes.
Innovation profile
4 new patent families by Heraeus have been published between 2019 and 2021-08-12, of which 4 relate to electrolyser catalysts and 3 relate to fuel cell catalysts.
These patent families are largely consistent with the Heraeus PEM fuel cells & electrolyser catalyst portfolio, which accommodate various requirements in terms of catalytic activity, stability, and cell reversal tolerance.
Key inventions towards improved catalyst activity:
• use of carbon or TiO2 support materials with controlled BET surface area and pore size distribution.
• oxygen plasma treatment of carbon support materials that have been produced in-house or were sourced externally (Vulkan carbon black). Favourable dispersion of the carbon support in water is likely of key importance towards achieving a homogeneous catalyst distribution on its surface.
• careful adjustment of pH and other process conditions during catalyst precursor deposition and reduction.
• careful optimisation of heat treatment after depositing the catalyst on the support material, and after depositing the supported catalyst on the polymer membrane.
Figure 4 illustrates how Heraeus’ IP covers substantial vertical integration, including preparation of the carbon catalyst support, metal precursors and preparation of catalyst-coated membranes (CCM).
Heraeus claims to have made considerable head way in thrifting the iridium content of the catalyst required for PEM electrolysis (PEMEL) electrodes. It appears that the corresponding patent applications have not yet been published.
Unique capability: clear focus of R&D resources on catalysts, while controlling all process steps that can affect performance and costs. Potential roadblock: none identified.
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Possible composition of future catalyst products
• FC: Pt on plasma-treated porous carbon (produced in-house, Figure 4) or plasma-treated carbon black (e.g. Vulcan XC72-R by Cabot).
• EL: Ir-Ru on TiO2 or tailored porous carbon (produced in-house).
Figure 4: projected manufacturing process for Heraeus (possibly for PEM FC catalyst H2-FC-30Pt-C60T)
Examples from the patent portfolio
A) PEM Catalysts • FC & EL: METHOD FOR PRODUCING A CATALYST-COATED MEMBRANE (Google): an
aqueous solution was prepared based on an ionomer of tetrafluoroethylene and a
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perfluorinated vinyl ether containing sulfonic acid groups (MX820.15, Gore, 4.05 weight%) along with a catalyst deposited on a carbon support (7.19 weight%). The CCM was heat treated at different temperatures (see Figure 5 below).The thermal treatments lead to a significant increase in performance in humid operating conditions and to a stabilisation of performance that does not only start after several cycles, but very early. A so-called “pre-conditioning” or “break-in” step for activating the membrane can therefore be omitted.
Figure 5: electrochemical performance of CCM upon heat treatment for 4 min at 150-180 °C.
• FC & EL: HIGH STABILITY CATALYST FOR AN ELECTROCHEMICAL CELL (Google): a graphitized porous carbon material was produced via nanocasting by impregnating a porous SiO2 template with sucrose (Figure 4), followed by carbonization, removal of SiO2 and graphitization of the carbonized material. This material was treated with plasma (pure oxygen, 0.3 mbar, 200 W, 30 min). The resulting material was suspended in water at 70 °C. After 1 h, nitric acid platinum nitrate solution (10 weight% Pt) was gradually added (2 : 3 Pt / carbon support by weight) and further mixed for 1 h. The pH was then adjusted to 5.6 by adding sodium carbonate, followed by the addition of formic acid as reducing agent. After 30 min, the Pt-carbon catalyst was filtered off, washed with water and dried (110 °C, nitrogen). This material exhibits an electrochemically active surface area (EASA) of 49.7 m2/g Pt.This work illustrates how a plasma treatment of the carbon support material leads to a substantial increase in the EASA, which allows for a favourable balance between current density and longevity. This EASA value and product features are consistent with Heraeus PEM FC catalyst H2-FC-30Pt-C60T.
• FC & EL: METHOD FOR PRODUCING SUPPORTED PLATINUM PARTICLES (Google): in a similar procedure as in the prior patent, Pt was deposited on conductive carbon black (Vulcan XC72-R by Cabot, BET specific surface area: 250 m2/g) with H2PtCl6 in water at 70
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°C, followed by the addition of sodium carbonate to adjust the pH value to 5.1 and reduction with formic acid. This material exhibits an EASA of 65 m2/g Pt.This work illustrates how the EASA was further increased by employing a conductive carbon black support material. Whether or not the increased BET specific surface area as compared to the carbon support in the prior patent (ca. 240 m2/g vs. ca. 60 m2/g) can be tolerated depends on stability and cell reversal tolerance requirements. This EASA and product features are consistent with Heraeus PEM FC catalyst H2-FC-40Pt-C240.
• EL: CATALYST FOR OXYGEN GENERATION REACTION DURING WATER ELECTROLYSIS (Google): Preparation of an Ir on TiO2 (60 m2/g BET surface area) catalyst through the combination of IrCl4 with TiO2 in water at 70 °C, followed by the addition of NaOH to increase the pH to 11, followed by stirring overnight and drying at 120 °C. Through an XPS analysis, iridium oxide hydroxide was identified (Ir content in final material: 45 weight%, electrochemical activity: 660 mA/g Ir).This work illustrates the formation of a PEM electrolyser catalyst that is consistent with the H2-El-Ir product, for which favourable activity and stability is claimed.
Deep Dives Deep Dive chapters provide inspirations for novel inventions by connecting multiple insights from the patent literature in terms of how they apply to solving a specific technical problem. An example from the ‘Solid-state Li-ion Battery Innovation & Patent Review’ is included below (Figure 6, after publication of this Figure, a patent application by the leading Li-ion battery cell developer CATL was identified that covers this concept, Google, publication date: 2020-12-22).
Figure 6 (excerpt from ‘Solid-state Li-ion Battery Innovation & Patent Review’): combination of ceramic electrolytes and lithium salts for well-balanced performance
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Deep dive chapters will be produced according to subscriber input, examples:
• Cost reduction methods for PEMFC/PEMEL catalyst coated membranes (CCM) • Development of novel gas diffusion electrodes (GDE) • Routes to higher current densities • Developing improved polymers for anion exchange membranes (AEM) • Meeting the gigawatt scale challenge
Triweekly Patent Updates
Our content is offered in the form of annual subscriptions that include a review along with triweekly patent updates that discuss 3 key fuel cell & electrolyser patents (see examples below). In addition, an Excel list of ca. 30-80 recently published patent families is included in each triweekly patent update (an example is available by clicking on this link).
CATHODE ELECTRODE DESIGN FOR ELECTROCHEMICAL FUEL CELLS (Google) Applicant: Ballard Power Systems / US 2020036012 A1 Publication Date: 2020-01-30
Ballard Power Systems, based in Burnaby, British Colombia, Canada develops PEMFC mainly for heavy duty applications.
Patents describe a number of different membrane electrode assembly (MEA) compositions with the cathode made up of two sublayers. The catalyst sublayer adjacent to the membrane is Sublayer 1. Sublayer 2 is directly adjacent to the GDL. Within one of the sublayers is a blend of ionomers, of which one has a lower molecular weight than the second.
The cathode catalyst of Example 1 has:
• Catalyst Sublayer 1: a Pt/Co alloy on carbon black with a loading of 0.15 mg Pt/cm2 with 18 weight% of 825 EW Aquivon (Solvay) ionomer and 18 weight% of 1100 EW Nafion (Chemours) ionomer.
• Catalyst Sublayer 2: a Pt on carbon black with a loading of 0.1 mg Pt/cm2 with 30 weight% of 1100 EW Nafion ionomer.
• The anode catalyst is: a Pt on carbon black with a loading of 0.1 mg Pt/cm2 with 23 weight% Nafion ionomer.
Ten different configurations were tested in total. It was shown that all the samples with two catalyst layers on the cathode similar to above performed better in terms of current density than those with one containing the higher molecular weight ionomer. Some performance dependence on relative humidity (RH) was observed, i.e. at higher humidity, samples with more of the low molecular weight ionomer in the blend performed worse than at 60%. Samples with blended ionomer in the first catalyst sublayer performed better than those in the second catalyst sublayer and all samples with blended ionomers showed similar or better performance than those without. Part of the improvement in performance was attributed to the different water management capabilities of each ionomer.
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This patent describes improved ionomer configurations for CCM, which can help to achieve higher current densities for PEMFC systems.
METHOD OF MAKING AN ELECTRODE USING ATOMIC LAYER DEPOSITION (Google) Applicant: Ballard Power Systems / WO 2020185608 A1 Publication Date: 2020-09-17
This patent addresses the issue of lowering platinum loadings. Older methods of catalyst deposition, such as spraying, screen printing, knife coating, slot die, and microgravure coating increasingly cannot reach the low platinum loadings required to reach cost-performance targets for PEM. Atomic and vapour deposition methods are increasingly of interest. The patent describes the use of atomic layer deposition (ALD). A carbonaceous layer (e.g. graphitized carbon black) is deposited onto a non-porous substrate (e.g. PTFE) and platinum is applied using ALD. The catalyst layer produced is then applied as a decal to the PEM to make the CCM.
In the example of the invention it is thus described in the patent: “graphitized carbon was mixed with Nafion® ionomer, then coated onto a non-porous PTFE substrate by microgravure at a loading of 0.2 mg/cm2 and dried. Platinum was then deposited via ALD onto the dry carbon layer until a loading of about 0.01 mg/cm2 to form an anode catalyst layer (about 20 cycles for a total of about 10 minutes). A Nafion® ionomer was then sprayed onto the anode catalyst layer at a loading of about 0.1 mg/cm2 to form an anode CCF [catalyst-coated film]. The cathode catalyst was directly applied onto one surface of a Nafion® membrane to form a half-CCM. The anode CCF was then decal-transferred to the opposing membrane surface of the half-CCM to form a full CCM.”
The example and comparative example formulations are summarised below. The example formulation (which employed ALD to make the anode) exhibits considerably higher performance than the comparative example (which used a standard micro-gravure method).
This patent application describes a novel technique, which can reduce a portion of the platinum requirement in the CCM, thus helping to achieve the KPI targets for cost and reduced CRM.
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MEMBRANE ELECTRODE ASSEMBLY WITH SUPPORTED METAL OXIDE (Google) Applicant: Ballard Power Systems / US 2021013519 A1Publication Date: 2021-01-14
According to the patent description further development is needed for PEMFC to maintain performance during “numerous on-off cycles and/or require dynamic, load-following power output; are tolerant to cell voltage reversals; are resistant to corrosion during start up and shutdown procedures; and can mitigate membrane degradation with respect to hydrogen peroxide formation in the fuel cell.“
The improvement described is the use of a nanoparticle iridium oxide/cerium oxide (IrO2/CeO2), prepared by a wet chemistry method followed by heat treatment, as a promoter on the anode catalyst. Cell reversal tolerance test results of 70 minutes were achieved for the sample promoted with the (IrO2/CeO2) heat treated at 500 °C, marginally better than if heat treated at 400 °C and considerably better than for either of the oxides alone. Open circuit voltage testing results indicated that the presence of IrO2 did not adversely affect the hydrogen peroxide mitigation of the CeO2.
This patent application describes innovations which could help to meet KPI targets for ramp up/ramp down, stack lifetime and durability.
Catalyst slurry for membrane electrode, method for producing same, catalyst-coated membrane, and membrane electrode (Google)Applicant: SinoHyKey Technology / CN 112259753 APublication Date: 2021-01-22
Perfluorosulfonic acid resin (D2020 Nafion by Chemours) was combined with butanediamine (1 weight% as compared to the perfluorosulfonic acid resin) in a mixture of water and a low-boiling alcohol (e.g. methanol, 1-50% methanol, ratio resin / solvent ca. 1 : 10). A carbon-supported Pt catalyst was added (TEC10F50E by Tanaka Precious Metals, ratio to resin 1 : 1 to 1.5 : 1 by weight). A CCM was produced by coating the cathode and anode sides of a PEM using a slit coating method, followed by drying at 160 °C (slightly above the boiling point of butanediamine, to allow for gradual volatilisation).
As compared to an experiment in which no butanediamine was used, improved voltage retention at elevated current density was observed (see Figure below: circles: experiment described above; squares: use of 4,7-diphenyl-1,10-phenanthroline instead of butanediamine; triangles: without additive).
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This patent application illustrates how the use of nitrogen-containing additives leads to improved MEA homogeneity (avoidance of crack formation), and therefore favorable performance at elevated current density.
About the Authors
Dr Michelle Lynch
Michelle Lynch is a PhD in Chemicals and Catalysis and Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC). Her 24 years of post-doctoral experience span catalyst R&D, catalyst and precious metals market research, patent analysis and consulting. She is currently the Director and Owner of Enabled Future Limited (EFL). Prior to setting up EFL, Michelle worked with IHS Markit, Nexant and Johnson Matthey. She is a regular speaker at conferences and contributor toindustry magazines. Her publications to date have included features in IHS Chemical Bulletin, IHS Quarterly, The Catalyst Review, Recycling & Waste World and The Catalyst Group Intelligence Report. She lives and runs her consultancy in the West Midlands, UK. She is passionate about sustainability, pollution abatement and helping to create high impact solutions to tackle climate change.
Enabled Future Limited (EFL) helps its clients to accelerate the profitable deployment of Circular Carbon Pathways in support of Climate Adaptation and future Net Zero manufacturing. It does so by Optimising Technology Portfolios in line with market trends and environmental targets. The company has several areas of activity organised through separate Market Verticals:
• EnabledCatalysts, which covers the production, use and recycling of catalysts• EnabledCircular, which covers projects aimed at achieving polymer and plastics product
circularity• EnabledMetals, which covers the production, use and recycling of platinum group metals
(PGM), battery metals, rare earth elements (REE) and other industrially valuable metals• EnabledPower, which includes projects for the production, use and recycling of fuel cells,
electrolysers, batteries, sustainable energy storage chemicals and renewable power systems
Dr Pirmin Ulmann
Pirmin Ulmann obtained a diploma in chemistry from ETH Zurich (Switzerland) in 2004 and a PhD from Northwestern University (USA) in 2009. Thereafter, he was a JSPS Foreign Fellow in an ERATO academic-industrial organic solar cell project at the University of Tokyo (Japan). From 2010 to 2016, while working at IMERYS Graphite & Carbon in Switzerland, he was a co-inventor of 7 patent families related to lithium-ion batteries and was involved in a collaboration on GDLs for fuel cells. He was also in charge of a collaboration with the Paul Scherrer Institute, evaluated outside technologies for corporate strategy, and made customer visits to battery & fuel cell component manufacturers in East Asia, North America & Europe. He holds the credential Stanford Certified Project Manager (SCPM) and has co-authored scientific articles with more than 1,700 citations.
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b-science.net LLC operates as a distributed team in Switzerland, and has premium subscribers in the vertical Li-ion battery technology in key technology clusters across America, Asia and Europe. The company facilitates technical decision making with its unique machine learning-based approach. Subscribers enjoy a superior understanding of the global state of the art in a time-efficient manner and get a head start towards successfully launching products. Gradually, further energy storage verticals are being pursued, starting with fuel cells & electrolysers.
Proposed Table of Contents Executive Summary Introduction • Focus of this Review • Review Methodology• Fuel Cell and Electrolyser Components and Current Technical Challenges• Technology Adoption Framework• Predictions Innovation Decision Trees (incl. Discussion) • Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC) Catalyst Development• PEM Electrolysers (PEMEL) Catalyst Development• PEM Bipolar Plate Composition and Construction• PEM Membrane Architecture Development• PEM Gas Diffusion Layer (GDL) Development• PEM Stack and Module Configuration Development• Anion Exchange Membrane (AEM) Catalyst Development• AEM Polymer Architecture DevelopmentKey Fuel Cell and Electrolyser and Components Developers (alphabetical order)• 3M - USA• Asahi Kasei - Japan• Ballard / Dongyue Future Hydrogen Energy - Canada / China• BASF - Germany• Bosch - Germany• Chemours (formerly DuPont) - USA• Daimler / NuCellSys - Germany• Doosan - South Korea• Enapter - Germany• FAW - China• General Motors - USA• Gore - USA• Heraeus - Germany• Hydrogenics - Canada• Hyundai / Kia / Pajarito Power - Korea / USA• ITM Power - UK• Jiping New Energy - China• Johnson Matthey - UK
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• Kolon - South Korea• LG Chemical / LG Energy Solution - South Korea• McPhy - France• NE Chemcat - Japan• NEL Hydrogen - Norway• Panasonic - Japan• Plug Power - USA• Siemens - Germany• SinoHyKey - China• Tanaka Precious Metals - Japan• Thyssenkrupp - Germany• Toray - Japan• Toyota/Cataler - Japan• Umicore - Belgium• Volkswagen / Audi - Germany• WeiChai - China• Wuhan WUT Hypower - ChinaDeep Dives• Cost Reduction Methods for PEMFC/PEMEL Catalyst Coated Membranes (CCM)• Development of Novel Gas Diffusion Electrodes (GDE)• Routes to Higher Current Densities • Developing Improved Polymers for Anion Exchange Membranes (AEM)• Meeting the Gigawatt Scale Challenge
List of Abbreviations AEL Alkaline electrolysisAEM Anion Exchange MembraneALD Atomic Layer DepositionBET Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (theory used to determine surface area through gas adsorption measurement)CCF Catalyst-coated FilmCCM Catalyst-coated MembraneCRM Critical Raw MaterialsEASA Electrochemically Active Surface AreaEL ElectrolyserEPO European Patent OfficeHER Hydrogen Evolution ReactionFC Fuel Cell FCEV Fuel Cell Electric VehicleGDE Gas Diffusion ElectrodeGDL Gas Diffusion LayerIP Intellectual PropertyKPI Key Performance Indicator
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Connecting the dots in energy storage
Prospectus
LED Light-emitting DiodeMEA Membrane Electrode AssemblyML Machine LearningMW MegawattOER Oxygen Evolution ReactionPEM Polymer Electrolyte MembranePFSA Perfluorosulfonic Acid PGM Platinum Group MetalsPTFE PolytetrafluoroethyleneREE Rare Earth ElementsR&D Research & DevelopmentSOEC Solid Oxide ElectrolyserXPS X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy
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