The Roll-to-Roll (R2R) Consortium is a newly formed national laboratory alliance dedicated to advancing efficient, high-throughput, and high-quality manufacturing techniques. Its primary goal is to expedite domestic manufacturing while lowering costs for durable, high-performance proton exchange membrane fuel cell and electrolyzer systems.
Headed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), the R2R Consortium includes leading institutions such as Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and Sandia National Laboratories. Efficient manufacturing of fuel cells and water electrolyzers plays a pivotal role in the widespread adoption of cost-effective, clean hydrogen technologies. Utilizing roll-to-roll manufacturing processes for materials offers opportunities to enhance efficiency, minimize material wastage, and reduce costs. However, there are several challenges associated with materials synthesis, coating, drying, and quality control that must be addressed to scale up these processes for widespread industry adoption.
NREL researchers Peter Rupnowski and Alex Badgett will spearhead research focused on quality control and techno-economic analysis. Their work encompasses the development of monitoring tools to aid manufacturers in identifying and rectifying defective parts and enhancing fabrication processes. Additionally, they will investigate the effects of manufacturing defects on device performance and durability while creating analytical models to optimize process development and assess energy consumption and emissions.
Moreover, the consortium intends to beef up industry endeavors through collaborative research and development agreement projects. Further details regarding these initiatives will be unveiled in the forthcoming months.
In addition, an industrial advisory board will offer guidance on the research objectives and areas of focus for the consortium. It aims to facilitate interaction between the wider R2R industry and manufacturers and materials suppliers of fuel cells and electrolyzers.
R2R initiatives will complement the efforts of other HFTO consortia, namely Hydrogen from Next-generation Electrolyzers of Water (H2NEW) and Million Mile Fuel Cell Truck (M2FCT). The R2R Consortium will concentrate on developing processes and strategies to upscale materials and components pioneered by H2NEW and M2FCT. It will closely collaborate with both consortia to ensure the adoption of relevant metrics, methodologies, and protocols.
“Our overarching goal is to de-risk and accelerate U.S. manufacturing of high-performance, durable, and low-cost fuel cells and electrolyzers,” said Scott Mauger, R2R Consortium director and senior scientist at NREL. “The consortium’s activities will focus on understanding the science of the manufacturing processes themselves to achieve target rates, yields, and product quality.”
“The R2R labs have the facilities to investigate, validate, and develop new manufacturing techniques and pathways to de-risk and accelerate their implementation,” added Mauger. “The R2R Consortium can help industry partners address challenges and develop scalable, affordable manufacturing processes.”
Mauger, along with deputy directors Yuepeng Zhang from ANL and Alexey Serov from ORNL, will oversee the operations. The first trio of topics will tackle manufacturing challenges crucial for the advancement of the hydrogen industry, while the subsequent three will encompass cross-cutting activities aimed at integration with the manufacturing-focused research:
- Materials scale-up science
- Fabrication process science
- Quality control
- Characterization
- Advanced computing
- Techno-economic analysis
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