ORNL, Julich to Parnter on Development of Fuel Cells

13 July 2007

The US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and Research Centre Julich in Germany have agreed to work together on the development of lower-cost, higher-performance fuel cells for transportation and portable power applications.

Under the cooperative activity agreement, ORNL will share characterization tools and techniques while Julich will share materials and fabrication techniques. Julich has extensive experience developing direct methanol fuel cells and is building capabilities in the area of high-temperature polymer fuel cells.

Julich’s expertise in direct methanol fuel cells extends to cell and stack manufacturing and electrochemical characterization, testing and modeling. Meanwhile, ORNL researchers will contribute in the field of analytical imaging, including solid-state and surface chemical analysis for fuel cells, and the development of metal and carbon bipolar plate materials.