Techno-Economic Assessment of Manufacturing Membrane Electrode Assemblies for PEM Fuel Cells: Focus on Coating Technologies

High manufacturing costs of proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells remain a significant obstacle to their widespread adoption in transportation applications. To address this, roll-to-roll (R2R) processes are proposed to increase production throughput and reduce membrane electrode assembly (MEA) costs. Among R2R-compatible coating processes, slot-die coating (SDC) represents the state-of-the-art technology, while rotary screen printing (RSP) offers advantages in structured and intermittent printing, providing additional design freedom for catalyst layers (CL). This study examines the cost implications of both coating processes for a specific set of R2R machines to be implemented at Fraunhofer ISE. Technical boundary conditions and operational limitations are evaluated and integrated into a comprehensive continuous process cost of ownership model capturing expenses throughout the production chain, from catalyst ink raw materials to the final seven-layer MEA. A methodology is presented for determining consumable costs at various purchasing volumes, combining literature values with supplier quotations. By integrating performance data from experimentally produced MEAs with the cost model, an approach is developed to determine optimum platinum (Pt) loadings for cost per kW for given materials. The identified optimal Pt loadings of 0.44-0.54 mgPt cm-2 demonstrate that the cell performance is crucial for further cost reductions of fuel cells.