Production of fuel cells, electrolyzers and hydrogen storage tanks with lower cost and higher efficiency will be enabled by the work in Research Area 2 (lead by SINTEF).
The US DoE Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Program has identified the three most important areas for materials development in order to reduce the cost of fuel cells and electrolyzers towards the final targets for mass-market introduction. IEA and the FCH-JU have made similar prioritizations:
1. High-performance catalysts enabling ultra-low precious metal loading,
2. Lower cost, lighter, corrosion-resistant bipolar plates
3. Low cost, high-performance membranes
For hydrogen storage in high-pressure type IV tank systems, the carbon fiber composite is contributing to more than 75% of the total cost of the system. It is therefore important to reduce the amount of carbon fiber used in high pressure type IV hydrogen storage tanks. The research tasks in this RA will focus on topics identified by the key technology as the areas with the highest cost reduction potential.