Current PEMFC stack technologies for automotive applications have proven their competitiveness in terms of performance and durability. Reducing production costs is currently the main challenge for the mass production and commercialization of fuel cells and is therefore being intensively worked on by manufacturers and research institutions. In order to not only be competitive, but also to show the further potential of a new generation of
fuel cells, the EU project DOLPHIN aims to implement an innovative, disruptive approach to a new cell architecture with a repeating unit reduced to two integrated core components.
The overall aim of the project is to validate disruptive technologies for 100 kW light-weight & compact fuel cell stack designs, reaching outstanding (specific & volumetric) power density while simultaneously featuring enhanced durability (under automotive application conditions) compared to state-of-the-art, and compatible with large scale/mass production of full power-stacks. For this purpose, innovative approaches in the areas of cell and stack design, manufacturing technology, process integration, interface quality, material efficiency and components are combined. In this way, an unprecedented power range (2 W/cm² active area) is to be achieved, which roughly doubles compared to the 2017 level.