Periodic Reporting for period 1 - SUSTAINCELL (SUSTAINCELL: Durable and Sustainable component supply chain for high performance fuel cells and electrolysers)
Reporting period: 2023-01-01 to 2024-06-30
The SUSTAINCELL project aims at supporting the European industry in the development of the next generation electrolyser and fuel cell technologies (both low and high temperature) by developing a sustainable European supply chain of materials, components and cells, significantly less reliant on critical raw materials (CRM), with lower environmental footprint and costs, and higher performance and durability than existing technologies. This will rely on scientific breakthrough innovations with the development of eco-design guidelines and environmentally friendly manufacturing routes applied for the production of new CRM-lean and/or CRM-free materials and architectures designed for maximising functionalities and durability, while decreasing CRM content per unit cell. The new flexible and scalable processing routes will exhibit higher productivity, as well as reduced utilities consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.
The following specific objectives of SUSTAINCELL are listed below with quantifiable targets reported in table 1.
O1: Harvesting and expanding European knowledge and know-how on CRM identification, substitution, recovery and recycling strategies and value chains
O2: Ensuring replacement and/or reduction of critical raw materials per unit cell using eco-friendly processing methods
O3: Increasing yield of ionomer and CRMs recovered from used cells and membrane electrode assemblies and from scraps and wastes by recycling
O4: Contributing to the development of EU harmonised protocols
O5: Validating new solutions in terms of gain in performance and durability at single cell level
O6: Demonstrating the sustainability of at least three innovative solutions for each technology
O7: Maximize impacts, uptake and acceptance of SUSTAINCELL results by developing dissemination, communication and exploitation strategies towards academia, industries, policy makers, NGOs, and public
O8: Establishing a suitable toolbox for efficient risk management and knowledge sharing between partners
SUSTAINCELL gathers 10 partners with complementary expertise and outstanding infrastructure:
• SINTEF, .
• CEA
• FZJ-HI ERN
• DTU
• TECNALIA
• VTT
• DLR
• EPFL
• HESSO,
The following specific objectives of SUSTAINCELL are listed below with quantifiable targets reported in table 1.
O1: Harvesting and expanding European knowledge and know-how on CRM identification, substitution, recovery and recycling strategies and value chains
O2: Ensuring replacement and/or reduction of critical raw materials per unit cell using eco-friendly processing methods
O3: Increasing yield of ionomer and CRMs recovered from used cells and membrane electrode assemblies and from scraps and wastes by recycling
O4: Contributing to the development of EU harmonised protocols
O5: Validating new solutions in terms of gain in performance and durability at single cell level
O6: Demonstrating the sustainability of at least three innovative solutions for each technology
O7: Maximize impacts, uptake and acceptance of SUSTAINCELL results by developing dissemination, communication and exploitation strategies towards academia, industries, policy makers, NGOs, and public
O8: Establishing a suitable toolbox for efficient risk management and knowledge sharing between partners
SUSTAINCELL gathers 10 partners with complementary expertise and outstanding infrastructure:
• SINTEF, .
• CEA
• FZJ-HI ERN
• DTU
• TECNALIA
• VTT
• DLR
• EPFL
• HESSO,
The project is gathering existing expertise and public data from European and international research and industrial communities to map out existing and future strategies for handling CRM in the whole value chain. This work has started wit the creation of one library of documents published online on Critical and Strategic Raw Materials (CSRM) and their use in the targeted FC and EL technologies, public deliverables from past / on-going European projects, documents / guidelines published by the European Commission e.g. on CSRM (e.g. CRM Act) and selected peer reviewed publications addressing these topics. A second library is focusing on EoL strategies. It contains public deliverables from the two projects Best4Hy (2020-2023) and HyTechCycling (2016-2019). Selected peer reviewed publications addressing these topics are also included. Mapping out of projects addressing CSRM research (national and international) from the SUSTAINCELL partners and from outside (e.g. use of CORDIS tool) has also been carried out. From this first step, a deliverable D1.1 has been drafted summarizing the Inventory of CSRM and components in FC and EL technologies.
Two workpackages (WP2 for for low temperature technologies and WP3 for high temperature technologies) are focusing on the development of innovative materials, coatings, processing routes, electrode architectures and cell design to reduce platinum group metals (PGM) and other CRMs loading in electrolysers and fuel cells. Novel materials or components properties (performance and durability) are compared to state-of-the-art materials taking into SRIA targets. The project also addresses the replacement and/or reduction of non-sustainable or environmentally unacceptable materials, such as organic binders and solvents, by investigating novel manufacturing routes including deposition method, curing method and accelerated materials platform development.
A LinkedIn profile and an external website have been generated to gain digital visibility. A zenodo community has also been defined and documents uploaded. A newsletter has been delivered to the project participants and to their network. One autumn school "“Inorganic electrochemical reactors for sustainable chemicals, fuels and power production" which integrates presentations on high temperature electrolysis technologies (SOEL and PCCEL) has been co-organized by SUSTAINCELL with four other European Projects eCOCO2, WINNER,PROTOSTACK, SINGLE in October 24-26, 2023. The attendance was about 100 participants.
Two workpackages (WP2 for for low temperature technologies and WP3 for high temperature technologies) are focusing on the development of innovative materials, coatings, processing routes, electrode architectures and cell design to reduce platinum group metals (PGM) and other CRMs loading in electrolysers and fuel cells. Novel materials or components properties (performance and durability) are compared to state-of-the-art materials taking into SRIA targets. The project also addresses the replacement and/or reduction of non-sustainable or environmentally unacceptable materials, such as organic binders and solvents, by investigating novel manufacturing routes including deposition method, curing method and accelerated materials platform development.
A LinkedIn profile and an external website have been generated to gain digital visibility. A zenodo community has also been defined and documents uploaded. A newsletter has been delivered to the project participants and to their network. One autumn school "“Inorganic electrochemical reactors for sustainable chemicals, fuels and power production" which integrates presentations on high temperature electrolysis technologies (SOEL and PCCEL) has been co-organized by SUSTAINCELL with four other European Projects eCOCO2, WINNER,PROTOSTACK, SINGLE in October 24-26, 2023. The attendance was about 100 participants.
WP1: Mapping of existing and future strategies for handling of CSRM and components in the whole value chain: libraries created and documents gathered, analyzed in D1.1
WP2: New materials and processes for CSRM reduction for LT FCs and ECs
• A Fluorine-free anion exchange membrane with conductivity of 0.055 S/cm at 75°C and 95% RH has been developed, demonstrating stable conductivity during a 15h long AEMEL cell test and after 1000h exposure in 1M KOH at 85°C.
• A CRM-free Ni-C-N HOR catalyst with mass activity of 37 A/g at 0.05 V vs RHE in RDE at 20°C in 0.1M KOH has been developed for AEMFC.
• A CRM-free NiFeOOH OER catalyst with intrinsic activity corresponding to 0.21 V overpotential at 10 mA/cm2 (ECSA normalized) at 80°C in 6M KOH has been developed for AEL.
• Intrinsic activity of bare Ni for HER in AEL/AEMEL has been established.
• Innovation in synthesis and manufacturing is embedded in the development of materials accelerated platform for speeding up electrocatalyst discovery for AEL by combining autonomous high-throughput experimentation with machine-learning optimization protocols, the implementation of flame spray pyrolysis and the computational screening assisting innovative materials research.
WP3: New materials and processes for CSRM reduction in HT electrolysers
• Novel PBSCF-based electrodes were produced by electrospinning with a very fine microstructure.
• Promising results were obtained on a Ni-free chromium manganite hydrogen electrode for high electrolysis cells.
• Two compositions were identified to decrease the cermet Ni-YSZ support layer thickness by adding inert materials to the fluorite based cermet support layer.
• Innovative and/or improved protocols for manufacturing cell components are also being investigated based on photonic annealing process and magnetron sputtering technology.
WP4:Breakthrough recycling solutions
Focus is on HT cell dismantling and separation of Ni and YSZ by various methods.
WP5: Environmental and economic sustainability
• Literature review work has been made on LCIA method and indicators assessing potential impacts on resource depletion in LCA and criticality of CRM and other key resources.
WP6: Validation at cell level of new solutions
• Harmonized testing protocols have been established.
• A Round-Robin campaign for one of the technologies of SUSTAINCELL is on-going.
WP2: New materials and processes for CSRM reduction for LT FCs and ECs
• A Fluorine-free anion exchange membrane with conductivity of 0.055 S/cm at 75°C and 95% RH has been developed, demonstrating stable conductivity during a 15h long AEMEL cell test and after 1000h exposure in 1M KOH at 85°C.
• A CRM-free Ni-C-N HOR catalyst with mass activity of 37 A/g at 0.05 V vs RHE in RDE at 20°C in 0.1M KOH has been developed for AEMFC.
• A CRM-free NiFeOOH OER catalyst with intrinsic activity corresponding to 0.21 V overpotential at 10 mA/cm2 (ECSA normalized) at 80°C in 6M KOH has been developed for AEL.
• Intrinsic activity of bare Ni for HER in AEL/AEMEL has been established.
• Innovation in synthesis and manufacturing is embedded in the development of materials accelerated platform for speeding up electrocatalyst discovery for AEL by combining autonomous high-throughput experimentation with machine-learning optimization protocols, the implementation of flame spray pyrolysis and the computational screening assisting innovative materials research.
WP3: New materials and processes for CSRM reduction in HT electrolysers
• Novel PBSCF-based electrodes were produced by electrospinning with a very fine microstructure.
• Promising results were obtained on a Ni-free chromium manganite hydrogen electrode for high electrolysis cells.
• Two compositions were identified to decrease the cermet Ni-YSZ support layer thickness by adding inert materials to the fluorite based cermet support layer.
• Innovative and/or improved protocols for manufacturing cell components are also being investigated based on photonic annealing process and magnetron sputtering technology.
WP4:Breakthrough recycling solutions
Focus is on HT cell dismantling and separation of Ni and YSZ by various methods.
WP5: Environmental and economic sustainability
• Literature review work has been made on LCIA method and indicators assessing potential impacts on resource depletion in LCA and criticality of CRM and other key resources.
WP6: Validation at cell level of new solutions
• Harmonized testing protocols have been established.
• A Round-Robin campaign for one of the technologies of SUSTAINCELL is on-going.