Sustainable by Design: Advancing Hydrogen Fuel Cell Production through Automation

The "Integrated Hydrogen Technologies" project is an extensive and comprehensive initiative funded by the Italian government to advance hydrogen fuel cell technologies for sustainable energy systems. The project outlines several research avenues to enhance fuel cell technology further and promote its integration into the global energy landscape, contributing to the acceleration of a clean, efficient, and sustainable energy transition. The project addresses critical challenges in fuel cell production, including material sustainability, production efficiency, and scalability. This article reports on the project activities targeted at the diffusion of fuel cell units. These activities have been motivated by the expected extensive use of hydrogen as an energy carrier in the transport and stationary sectors. They comprise the development of innovative processes for producing bipolar stack plates based on additive manufacturing and sustainability-by-design criteria. Furthermore, automated assembly of fuel stacks is being developed to enable high production capacities