About FC-PAD

The cost and durability of current polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) are major barriers to their commercial use for stationary or transportation power generation. By bringing together proven expertise in the core national laboratories and building on existing capabilities, FC-PAD plans to demonstrate world-class improvements in fuel cell performance and durability that exceed the 2020 targets set by the U.S. Department of Energy Fuel Cell Technologies Office (FCTO).

FC-PAD's core lab team consists of five national laboratories and leverages a multi-disciplinary team and capabilities to accelerate improvements in PEMFC performance and durability. Los Alamos National Laboratory is the consortium lead, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory is the deputy lead, and Argonne National Laboratory, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory are technical partners. Innovations from the broader research and development community will be brought into the FC-PAD consortium through funding opportunity announcements and national lab partnerships.

Mission

FC-PAD will aid in the understanding of—and lead to significant improvements in—fuel cell performance and durability.

Goals

• Provide technical expertise and harmonize activities with industrial developers.
• Serve as a resource that amplifies FCTO's impact by leveraging the core capabilities of constituent members.
• Help disseminate data to developers.
• Couple national lab capabilities with future funding opportunity announcements for an influx of innovative ideas and research from the broader research and development community.
• Foster sustained capabilities and collaborations.

Research Objectives

• Advance performance and durability of PEMFCs at a pre-competitive level to further enable their commercialization.
• Develop the knowledge base and optimize structures for more durable and high-performance PEMFC components, while simultaneously reducing cost.
• Improve high-current-density performance at low platinum (Pt) loadings (0.125 mg/cm² total).
• Improve component durability—such as membrane stabilization, self-healing, or electrode-layer stabilization.