Membrane Electrode Assemblies (MEAs) are a core component of fuel cells (FCs), which are expected to be produced at large scale in order to meet the different mobility industry needs and support the market growth of FCs for these applications.
However, state-of-the-art manufacturing processes still suffer from shortcomings such as:
- Production processes manufacturing speed lagging behind the necessary capacity to meet the demand (often still utilising batch processes);
- Catalyst Coated Membrane (CCM) deposition processes cannot reach an industrial production quality;
- In-line quality control processes and technologies have limited defect detection capabilities, resulting in potential escape of defective parts to market and premature equipment failures in-service;
- Manual steps induce a loss of reproducibility and quality by allowing defects all along the different manufacturing steps;
- Recyclability by design, and associated supply chain needs, necessitate new industrial processes.
Hence, the maturity of production processes requires new developments to achieve higher production volumes and meet the stringent product quality expectations of emerging FC markets and applications (e.g., stationary applications, heavy duty road transport, maritime, rail and aviation). Considering the significant Critical Raw Material (CRM) content of state-of-the-art MEAs, development of high-volume MEA production processes should include efficient material use, together with eco-design and Life Cycle Analysis of the components
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