Status of the U. S. Department Of Energy, Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy's Fuel Cell Research and Development Efforts

Abstract

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Fuel Cell Technologies Program, in the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), seeks to enable the widespread commercialization of fuel cells, through applied research and development (R&D) to overcome technical barriers, as well as through efforts to reduce institutional and market barriers. In support of this goal, DOE funds a broad range of fuel cell R&D activities with emphasis on materials, fuel cell stack components, balance of plant (BOP) subsystems, and integrated fuel cell systems targeting lower cost and enhanced durability. Fuel cell system cost estimates for transportation applications have illustrated that catalysts and system BOP are major cost drivers at high-volume production. Membranes are a cost driver at lower production volumes. The DOE has supported research to develop improved fuel cell catalysts and membranes and characterize and optimize transport phenomena to improve membrane electrode assembly (MEA) and stack performance.