PROGRES – PROduction of GRaphene coated platES for fuel cells

“PROGRES项目建立在以前的Innovate UK项目的基础上，将解决重量敏感型无人机（和其他）动力系统应用的超轻量化挑战。该公司的目标是实现石墨烯驱动的高导电性和耐腐蚀性聚合物涂层的工业化和大规模生产，有可能实现高达90%的成本节约。与现有电池技术相比，轻质电池组使无人机能够飞得更高、更长，并增强系统操作能力。涂层板占燃料电池重量的约80%，但减少质量需要板堆材料/涂层的创新。同样，轻量化是进入汽车和便携式市场的关键。作为普遍接受的航空航天材料，PROGRES还旨在验证钛和铝箔的生产规模工艺。钛代表了燃料电池堆轻量化的（第一）步骤变化，但需要新的供应链和互补的上游/下游生产和质量控制过程;以及扩大到大批量/低成本生产的潜力。还将评估使用全阻隔保护（高）导电涂层的技术可行性，以利用铝的上级重量/性能潜力。总阻隔性能将是确保性能不会因表面极低pH值（<1）电解质的进入而降低的关键。延长的使用寿命将以最小的退化和可接受的运行时间\> 800小时为基准。一个成功的项目结果将建立一个基于英国的能力在全球无人机市场。"

"The PROGRES project builds on previous Innovate UK projects and will address super light-weighting challenges for weight sensitive UAVs (and other) powertrain applications. It will aim to industrialise and upscale production graphene enabled, highly conductive and corrosion resistant polymer coatings with the potential to achieve cost savings of up to 90%.Light-weighted stacks enable UAVs to fly higher and longer with enhanced, system operational capabilities over the incumbent battery technology. Coated plates make up ~80% of the weight of a fuel cell, but mass reduction requires innovation of the plate stack materials/coatings. Similarly, light-weighting is key in accessing automotive and portable markets. As generally accepted aerospace materials, PROGRES also aims to validate production scale processes for Ti and Al foils.Ti represents a (first) step change in light-weighting of fuel cell stacks, but requires new supply-chains and complementary upstream/downstream production and QC processes; and the potential to scale to high-volume/low-cost production. The technical feasibility of using total-barrier protection (highly) conductive coatings will also be assessed for Aluminium to harness its superior weight/performance potential. Total-barrier properties will be key to ensuring that performance does not degrade due to the ingress of very low pH (<1) electrolytes at the surface. Extended operational life will be benchmarked, with minimal degradation and acceptable running times \>800hrs. A successful project outcome will establish a UK based competency within a global UAV marketplace."