I-Corps: Low-cost and high-durability fuel cells

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The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the commercialization feasibility of a fuel cell technology to help fuel cell manufacturers solve the problem of high loading of platinum group metal catalysts. Fuel cells address the increasing societal interest and market needs in sustainable and clean energy sources as substitutes for fossil fuels, and the reduction of on-road and off-road transportation emissions. The technology will benefit the fuel cell stack or parts manufacturers who currently suffers from high manufacturing costs associated with high-cost of catalyst materials and short lifetime of fuel cell operation. The technology also will have the potential to benefit the agriculture drone manufacturers seeking alternative lightweight, highly-efficient energy package that provides long flight duration and low/zero pollution. The global fuel cell market will grow at an CAGR of about 21% to hit about 12 billion US dollars by 2026. Fuel cell-based hybrid systems are forecast to reach 46 billion US dollars. The customer discovery will identify the market needs, explore technology licensing opportunities, and develop commercialization plans. The project also will train students and researchers to better prepare to pursue entrepreneurship in technology commercialization.This I-Corps project will focus on customer discovery to identify the market opportunity, explore entrepreneurship, and develop the business model centering on the new fuel cell technology. The fuel cell technology has the potential to address some of the challenges in the existing market in terms of customer needs arising from specific requirement to provide alternative energy storage and conversion modules that effectively manage the energy consumption, clean environment and zero pollution as well as high energy efficiency for residential use. The high cost associated with catalyst materials in the total manufacturing cost and the poor durability of existing catalysts constitute the major barrier to the mass production and application. The fuel cell technology in this project will overcome these barriers by using ultralow loading of platinum group metal catalysts and effective membrane electrode assembly to provide a low cost and high durability conversion system for fuel cell manufacturers and energy storage and conversion facilities. A minimum viable prototype demonstration of fuel cell modules also will be part of the technology development roadmap.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.