EGIYEON-EU, Joint Research on Core Source Technologies for Hydrogen Fuel Cells

The Korea Institute of Energy Research (hereinafter KIER) will form a consortium with local European research institutions to conduct joint research on core hydrogen fuel cell technologies for three years until 2027.

KIER announced on the 21st that it will participate in the ‘M-era.Net 3’ program with this objective.

(From left) Dr. Rahmat Adi Wibowo, AIT (Project Principal Investigator), Dr. Park Gugon, EGI, Dr. Eunjik Lee. Provided by Korea Institute of Energy Research

The M-era.Net 3 program is an international research program jointly participated in by multiple countries and is led by the European Union. The purpose of the M-era.Net 3 program is to develop innovative technologies that enable research cooperation and industrial applications in fields such as new materials, energy, and the environment.

The program includes 25 European Union member countries such as Denmark and Germany, as well as 10 non-European countries including Korea.

KIER plans to participate in the M-era.Net 3 program by forming a consortium (with a total of five institutions) including Austria’s leading research institution, the Austrian Institute of Technology (AIT), and France’s National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS). KIER will serve as the domestic lead institution and lead the development of high-performance electrode catalysts and material linkage technologies.

The core of the consortium’s ‘HEROES’ project is KIER’s core-shell electrode catalyst technology, which reduces the use of platinum catalysts. Through this, the consortium aims to reduce the cost of fuel cell stacks by 20% compared to existing levels and improve energy conversion efficiency to over 65%, thereby securing world-class core material technologies.

The consortium will also focus on securing technologies that reduce or replace the use of critical metals, whose prices have recently increased due to global supply chain issues.

Ultimately, the consortium envisions raising the energy conversion efficiency of fuel cells to over 65% by applying membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs) produced with CNRS and KIER’s technologies together with cells developed by IAG.

Dr. Park Gugon of KIER, who is the lead domestic research director, said, “We will secure world-class core material and component technologies through electrode catalyst technology for hydrogen fuel cells and innovative membrane electrode assembly design.” He added, “We expect that the developed technologies will be applied to eco-friendly mobility and ultra-high-efficiency power generation fields, contributing to the activation of the hydrogen economy.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.