Materials Research and Development Priorities for Low Cost Automotive PEM Fuel Cells

Abstract Research and development of fuel cell materials often focuses on designing and discovering materials which will reduce the cost or improve the durability of an individual subcomponent. Examples of recent focus areas include non-Pt group metal (PGM) catalysts, non-carbon catalyst supports, and non-fluorinated membranes. These studies rarely look at the entire system to comprehend the impact of these materials on the cost-of-ownership to the customer, including vehicle and fuel costs. This perspective takes a holistic look at the impact of functional materials on automotive fuel cell systems and provides direction on which material properties will provide the greatest benefit. It also provides guidance on which material classes are the most likely to enable the achievement of systems which will result in the successful commercialization of light-duty fuel cell vehicles.