Green hydrogen is widely accepted as a critical part of advancing the energy transition. However for it to become a reality the technology used to generate it, such as PEM electrolysers, must demonstrate both performance and affordability. TFP Hydrogen’s specialised coatings and catalysts play an important role in enabling this; they enhance the performance, efficiency and durability of PEM electrolysers to effectively reduce the lifetime cost of green hydrogen production.
The company's coatings are used on a number of different titanium PEM electrolyser components to increase the performance and lifetime of the system. The coatings protect cell separators, bipolar and unipolar plates from corrosion, reducing hydriding and embrittlement which increases the ohmic resistance and can lead to mechanical failure. The result is improved long-term component performance and cell lifetime. The coatings offer the same benefits for macro transport layer meshes and PTLs, such as titanium sinters and felts, as well as being designed to lower the interfacial contact resistances of these components and maintain this over 10 000s of hours. In PTLs, the specially-designed coatings also protect against oxidation and reduce overpotential, enabling operation at high energy efficiency over long time periods. All of these benefits mean that the electrolyser system is able to operate at high energy efficiency over long time periods, which is necessary to make green hydrogen production more competitive.
As well as performance enhancing component coatings, TFP Hydrogen has recently launched a new catalyst range, also designed to deliver enhanced performance of the PEM electrolyser system and proven over 10 000s of hours. The high-efficiency iridium (Ir) and ruthenium (Ru) anode catalysts are designed for use in the manufacture of catalyst coated membranes (CCMs), and are highly dispersible into inks for ease of use in this application. They are formulated to enable the system to operate at a low voltage, improve long-term durability, and ensure high performance.
All of TFP Hydrogen’s coating and catalyst technology is rapidly scalable, enabling the company to respond efficiently to demand increases and support the growth of the hydrogen sector. The company has recently doubled coating capacity at the company’s Cornwall base, installed a new coating facility in Schenectady NY and invested in scaling catalyst manufacturing capacity and capability to enable supply in multi kilogram orders.