AEM-EC - Reduced production costs – HyReCo

The planned project HyReCo will develop a cost-effective, robust open-source AEM cell designed for industrial mass production that can be implemented in the stack or system and used in a wide range of application scenarios. The main targets are the reduction of production costs for single components, especially the BPP is target up to 30 %, as well as the improvement of the efficiency and the lifespan (up to 20 %) of a AEM-EC. Both targets will be assisted through an intelligent digital twin of the AEM-stack. Relating to the BPP, different feed material (nickel coating steel, graphite-based composites) will be investigated concerning to its suitability.
The project HyReCo also considers all other cell components like porous transport layer (PTL), coated catalyst membrane (CCM) Platinum-group-materials (PGM)-free in complex simulations with the object to build a functional digital twin of a functional cell. The DT will be used to optimize the cell design and to monitor degradation behaviour. A series of realistic framework conditions will be simulated in specially modelled usage scenarios. The resulting data will be used to determine the rates of degradation of the various components. These results will then be fed into an AI-supported improvement process that will technologically synchronize the component design and the production. All the collected result will be a functional laboratory AEM cell designed for high production rates.
HyReCo has a strong industrial background and will transfer all project results in the community of the HZwo e. V. and Moravian-Silesian Hydrogen Cluster.