Development of non-fluorinated components for PEM fuel cells and water electrolysers

General Information

PEM water electrolysers (PEMWE) and PEM fuel cell (PEMFC) technologies currently rely on perfluorinated sulfonic acid (PFSA)-based materials and components, which pose significant health and environmental risks due to the release of toxic fluorine groups during production and disposal. Moreover, the production of PFSA remains costly, compounding the challenges associated with their use.
Therefore, the ECOPEM project aims at developing safe-by-design, non-fluorinated hydrocarbon-based membranes, reinforcements, and ionomers. This ambitious work will be facilitated by the development and implementation of life cycle thinking tools addressing environmental and economic dimensions to drive the research and innovation using quantifiable sustainability criteria. ECOPEM will deliver scientific breakthroughs in the design and processing of materials, components and membrane electrode assembles (MEAs) enabling replacement of PFSAs by hydrocarbon-based polymers in membranes and catalyst layers. The project will validate the significant benefits of these MEAs by demonstrating an increased current density, reaching a minimum of 3 A/cm2 at a cell voltage of 1.8 V and degradation rate < 5μV/h for PEMWE cells; and a power density > 1.5 W/cm2 at 0.650 V and a degradation rate < 5 μV/h for PEMFC using harmonized JRC testing procedures. Achieving these ambitious targets would result in a new standard for hydrocarbonbased MEAs for PEMWE and PEMFC applications.
Main contributions of Hereon to ECOPEM include the synthesis of new tailor-made ionomers. The challenge is to prepare fluorine-free polymers for this application.
ECOPEM is co-funded by the Clean Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (JTI CLEANH2) which is a Public-Private Partnership between the European Commission and industry.

EU-Programme Acronym and Subprogramme Area	HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2024-05-02
Project Type	Research and Innovation Action (RIA)
Contract Number	Grant Agreement 101192366
Co-ordinator	Institute for Energy Technology (NO)

Funding for the Project (€)	Funding for Hereon (€)
2,996,992	364,500

Contact Person at Hereon

Dr. Volkan Filiz, Institute of Membrane Research, Department of Microporous Polymers (PMS), Phone +49 4152 87 2425 E-mail contact

Participants

Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (CH), Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH (DE), Haute Ecole Specialisee de Suisse Occidentale (CH), Institute for Energy Technology (NO), Symbio France (FR), University of Birmingham (UK)

Last Update: 07. April 2025