Developing tomorrow’s fuel cells
Slovenian start-up ReCatalyst and German spin-off ionysis have made significant progress in their collaborative work on new catalysts and catalyst-coated membranes (CCMs) for next-generation fuel cells. This work is part of the EU-funded ENABLER project, in which the two companies teamed up with the goal of making fuel cells for heavy-duty applications more cost-effective, efficient and environmentally friendly. As reported in an ionysis news item, major progress has now been achieved in technical development. ReCatalyst has succeeded in developing and filing a patent for a new generation of fuel cell catalyst materials based on mesoporous carbons. The ionysis team has used these materials to develop full-format fuel cells (a commercial cell platform with an active area of about 200 cm²). The fuel cells have now reached the project performance target of > 2 A/cm² at 0.65 V, according to the news item. This is considered a key step in demonstrating the technological maturity of both ReCatalyst’s platinum alloy catalysts and ionysis’ hydrocarbon-based CCMs. These joint achievements have been made possible thanks to funding received from the European Innovation Council (EIC) through its EIC Transition programme. “The collaboration with ionysis is exactly what makes the EIC Transition project very special – it enabled both start-ups to rapidly improve their technologies without compromising commercial goals,” remarks ReCatalyst’s Chief Technology Officer Dr Matija Gatalo. “We have been able to reach this significant performance target exactly because of our synergies, since a great catalyst can only show its potential in a highly optimized CCM.” Dr Matthias Breitwieser, Chief Technology Officer of ionysis, adds: “The timing was perfect: ReCatalyst has made huge progress in catalyst development, while at the same time we have significantly optimized the ink formulation and our direct CCM coating process. This enabled us to integrate both developments into our next generation of hydrocarbon-based CCMs.”
Next steps
Next for ReCatalyst is to scale up the synthesis of its new catalysts. In the meantime, ionysis is setting up the pilot plant for CCM production. “The synergies between us, such as the maturity stage as well as technological complementarity, enable us to thrive. We understand each other’s needs and dynamics well and we know that only through such potent innovation we can tackle the challenge of exploiting our commercial potentials in the fast-developing global market with many established players,” explains ReCatalyst CEO Tomaž Bizjak. Lisa Langer, Chief Financial Officer of ionysis, observes: “EIC Transition offers a unique project setup where the commercialization of technological innovation is prepared from the very beginning. It is a huge benefit for ionysis to have a sparring partner in ReCatalyst and push forward the complementary innovations to move ahead faster in the quest of bringing the next generation of fuel cells to market.” The ENABLER (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) project ends in 2025. For more information, please see: ENABLER project website
Keywords
ENABLER, fuel cell, catalyst, catalyst-coated membrane, hydrocarbon
