Fraunhofer Institute for Electronic Nano Systems
Fraunhofer Institute for Electronic Nano Systems

Development of catalyst inkjet inks (Pt/IrO2)

© Fraunhofer ENAS
The precious metal-containing, catalytic inkjet inks were specially developed at Fraunhofer ENAS.

In order to use hydrogen as an energy source, effective electrolyzers and fuel cells are needed to produce hydrogen by splitting water and converting the hydrogen obtained into electrical energy and heat.

Fraunhofer researchers have succeeded in developing an innovative ink technology for these key components that are important for the production and use of hydrogen. With their globally unique catalyst inks containing platinum and iridium, catalyst-coated membranes (CCM) and membrane electrode assemblies (MEA) can be functionalized uniformly and extremely precisely as the heart of electrolyzers and fuel cells.

© Fraunhofer ENAS
Example of a catalyst-coated membrane.

The coating of the membrane materials with the catalyst and precious metal-containing functional layers of platinum and iridium dioxide enables a controlled electrochemical reaction so that, for example, water can be efficiently split into hydrogen and oxygen by applying an electric current.

The catalyst inks are applied to the membrane material using direct inkjet printing in a single process step. Time and resource-intensive processes that are necessary for the functional coating in established coating processes can thus be significantly shortened. 

Benefits for manufacturers of CCMs and MEAs

Fraunhofer ENAS offers customers unique ink formulations for the production of catalyst inks that are compatible with inkjet printing. If required, the institute supports the optimization of inkjet printing processes and provides the required printing parameters for inkjet printing based on the catalyst inks.

The Fraunhofer ENAS inkjet inks are based on platinum and iridium catalysts and are designed for the production of CCM membranes and MEAs for use in PEM fuel cells and PEM electrolysis cells (polymer electrolyte membranes, PEM).

Benefit from the following advantages of inkjet inks based on the Fraunhofer formulation:

  • Application- and customer-specific adaption of the ink loading (platinum and iridium dioxide)
  • Cost-effective production of CCM/MEA
  • Direct coating on the membrane
  • Elimination of time- and resource-intensive decal process steps
  • Possibility of producing gradient layers
  • Prototyping through to mass production

Would you like to take your CCM/MEA production to the next level while reducing costs? Please contact us.