STEP2 – ECPD – from prototype to series maturity

The insights gained throughout the project now allow investments to be made in production facilities for the manufacture of electrodes and membranes to produce membrane electrode assemblies (MEA). These permit the target costs of €0.25/W for the MEA of a high temperature polymer electrolyte membrane (HTPEM) fuel cell to be achieved, thereby also providing advantages for fuel cell heating devices.

As part of the initial project focus, electrode production based on the ECPD method could be successfully further developed and then transferred to automated manufacturing technology. The quality of production could also be substantially improved: an almost 100 % quality level without defects could be attained in the relevant production steps.

As such, the HTPEM can therefore be reliably manufactured. Besides the development of the electrode, the membrane is the second pillar for successful and economical MEA production. Here, the manufacturing process could also be reduced from five to two days, thereby leading to further substantial reductions in costs.