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Due to energy depletion and environmental problems worldwide, hydrogen fuel cell has become a new energy equipment, replacing internal combustion engine that emits pollutant.
Up to recently, hydrogen fuel cell stack has been developed and commercialized to be applied in hydrogen electric vehicle. However, high- powered hydrogen fuel cell that can be applied to large FCEV (Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle), such as bus, truck and energy storage system could not reach commercialization stage due to price competitiveness, durability and technical limitation of the stack.

MEA (Membrane Electrode Assembly) is one of the components of stack.
In electrochemical reaction, it allows only the hydrogen ion(proton) to pass the membrane and blocks the electron from passing which is later used as electrical energy. Thus, it is considered the heart of a PEM fuel cell and expensive material.
PFSA (Perfluorosulfonic acid) which is generally used as the membrane material for PEMFC, is expensive and has following disadvantages. depending on the humidity condition at high temperature;

- membrane wetting becomes low that leads to low hydrogen ion
conductivity,
- low membrane dimension stability
- low mechanical durability

In order to produce high-powered hydrogen fuel cell for large-scale FCEV and ESS(Energy Storage System), polymer electrolyte membrane should be large and have high-performance.
This company has developed high-performing polymer electrolyte membrane which can replace the existing PFSA membrane and enable large scale production. Recently, they have installed equipment for large- scale reinforced membrane of 78cm which can be applied in PEMFC for ship, train, truck or submarine and is ready for the mass-production.

Their core technologies are consisted of high-performing PFSA material, porous scaffold with controlled pore, defect removal technology that cause interfacial deintercalation of two materials, and continuous Roll-to-Roll technology. These make mass-production of large-scale PTFE reinforced membrane possible that contribute to price competitiveness through cost reduction. (succeeded in mass production as the 3rd player in the World following the US and Japan)

In order to enter and be a leading player in large PEMFC market, this Korean company is hoping to develop and commercialize high-performing PEMFC with PEFMC manufacturer under research cooperation agreement.

The Korean company is hoping to apply for the EUREKA program with PEMFC company, hydrogen fuel cell powered heavy-duty transport companies and R&D center specialized in PEMFC.

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