FUEL CELL RESEARCH IN SWITZERLAND 824 CHIMIA 2004, 58, No. 12 Chimia 58 (2004) 824–825 © Schweizerische Chemische Gesellschaft ISSN 0009–4293 Fuel Cells in Switzerland – A Brief Retrospective View Günther G. Scherer* Abstract: Starting with the work of C.F. Schönbein, Switzerland has made important contributions to the history of fuel cell research. Starting with early developments in the first half of the 20th century, some highlights are men- tioned in this article. After a first wave of industrial interest in the 1960s, R&D in SOFC technology started about 1990 and is now on the road towards commercial introduction since about 2000. In parallel, polymer electrolyte fu- el cell research has advanced at research institutions, including work on components, stacks, and complete sys- tems. Keywords: Fuel cells · History · Polymer electrolyte fuel cells · Solid oxide fuel cells Switzerland has a long tradition in conven- Another Swiss contribution to fuel cell stead the decision was made to use re- tional (thermal) power conversion and stor- science must be mentioned. Emil Baur, a sources to promote an indigenous Swiss ac- age. Only recently, with the involvement of former professor at the Technical Universi- tivity, while taking the maximum benefit Sulzer Hexis Corp. to develop solid oxide ty in Braunschweig, became a Professor at from international cooperation to acquire fuel cell (SOFC) systems for stationary the Physikalisch-Chemisches Laboratori- knowledge and experience. small-scale co-generation in family houses, um of ETH Zürich in 1911. In many contri- In a workshop at Charmey/FR, held 2–6 an industrial commitment to electrochemi- butions, roughly between the years 1920 July 1989, it was concluded that it would cal power conversion has been realized. and 1940, Baur and his co-workers de- more appropriate to initiate research and Unfortunately, one has to state that fuel cell scribed results concerning electrochemical development in the area of SOFC in technologies and their possible products power conversion, among other the inven- Switzerland. At the very same time, the In- have not attracted great interest from Swiss tion of a high-temperature fuel cell with a ternational Energy Agency initiated various industry up to now. solid oxide electrolyte of the zirconium annexes on collaborative research and de- In contrast, fuel cell science in Swiss ac- type (1937) [2]. velopment in the area of fuel cells. At the ademia reaches far back in history. Already A highly important contribution to the end of the Charmey workshop a document at the dawn of fuel cell science, as Bossel understanding and development of gas dif- was drawn up which listed the possible convincingly has reported [1], the fuel cell fusion electrodes was made by Alfred Swiss SOFC areas of interest to collaborate effect was discovered by Christian Schmid, born in Alsace, later a Professor of within the IEA network [5]. Most of the Friedrich Schönbein in 1839. Briefly after Physical Chemistry at the University of major players still active in SOFC R&D in this discovery, the invention of a fuel cell Basel [3]. Switzerland today were already present at was described by Grove. Schönbein, born Activities in fuel cell research were tak- that meeting (R. Diethelm, Sulzer Hexis; L. in Germany, was Professor of Physics and en up again after World War II in Switzer- Gauckler, ETHZ; A. McEvoy, EPFL; U. Chemistry at the University of Basel at that land, in particular in the 1960s at the Brown Bossel, European Fuel Cell Forum; others). time. Boveri Laboratories in Baden. The devel- During the following years, around the opment of a methanol-fuelled fuel cell led, Sulzer-Innotec AG activity to develop among others, to a 20 W demonstration unit SOFC technology for co-generation in fam- to power a television station above Visp, ily houses, and with the strong support of Wallis. In the 1960 and 1970s research in the BFE, a ‘CH-network’ of different re- the SOFC area was conducted at Battelle search groups in the area of SOFC was Institute Geneva and continued at CSEM, formed (EPFL, ETHZ, EMPA, SIG, SIL, Neuchatel [4]. others) [6][7]. Several of these groups have A revival of fuel cell research in gained good reputations within the respec- Switzerland started in the late 1980s, with tive international scientific community. Re- the support of Bundesamt für Ener- cently, based on recent SOFC activities at giewirtschaft (BEW), Bern, today named EPFL-LENI, the company HTCeramix SA *Correspondence: Dr. G.G. Scherer Bundesamt für Energie (BFE), Bern. was formed, which develops SOFC tech- Paul Scherrer Institut Around 1988 an internal BFE-action began, nology in the sub-kW range [8]. Electrochemistry Laboratory including the first approach to Westing- During that time international network- CH–5232 Villigen PSI Tel.: +41 56 310 23 62 house to install a 20 kW demo SOFC in ing was high on the agenda, in particular Fax: +41 56 310 44 15 Switzerland. There were several small com- within the International Energy Agency. A. E-Mail: [email protected] mittee meetings to evaluate these ideas; in- McEvoy (EPFL) became Operating Agent FUEL CELL RESEARCH IN SWITZERLAND 825 CHIMIA 2004, 58, No. 12 of the Annex 11 of the IEA-Implementing (Construction et Dévelopment Michelin, Ferdinand Enke, Stuttgart, 1923. Agreement, SOFC research (1990–1992). Givisiez/FR) a concept car, based on the hy- [4] H. Tannenberger, 3. Mini-Symposium Several international topical meetings were brid concept of combining a fuel cell and a ‘Elektrochemische Energiespeicherung’, organized, among others one on ‘Solid super capacitor, was successfully demon- Paul Scherrer Institut, 17.11.1988. Oxide Fuel Cells – Materials and Mecha- strated ‘on the road’ [13]. [5] A. McEvoy, EPFL, personal communica- nisms’ [9]. This CHIMIA issue summarizes current tion, 2004. Starting 2001, Sulzer Hexis AG has de- activities of fuel cell R&D in Switzerland. [6] Piles A Combustible, Journée d’Etude, livered and tested a pre-series of more than Since the revival in 1988, great progress has Lausanne, 17 mars 1994. [7] Proceedings ‘10 Years of Fuel Cell Re- 100 units, 1 kWel, 2.5 kWthermal, in the field been made in both low temperature PEFC all over Europe. The next system generation and high temperature SOFC. Demonstra- search in CH’, Bern, 1999. will be delivered in 2005 [10]. tion units as well as pre-series have been [8] Swiss Fuel Cell Seminar, EIVD,Yverdon- Around 1990, based on know-how of tested ‘in real environments’. This success les-Bains, May 19.–20, 2003. the Membrel Process (solid polymer water of fundamental and pre-commercial re- [9] Joint Topical Meeting ‘Solid Oxide Fuel electrolysis), which had been developed at search would not have been possible with- Cells – Materials and Mechanisms’. the BBC Research Center Baden-Dättwil out the support from public sources, in par- 16–19th, January, 2001, Organized by the during the late 70s and 80s, a project on the ticular without the support of BEW. Laboratory for Photonics and Interfaces, polymer electrolyte fuel cell was started at New aspects of R&D, like (i) modeling EPFL (A. McEvoy) for Swiss Federal Of- the Paul Scherrer Institut. Participation in materials, components, cells, and systems fice of Energy. the first PEFC-Annex‘Collaborative Re- [14], (ii) in situ diagnostics, (iii) hybrid [10] G. Robert, E. Batawi, A. Schuler, S. search & Development on the Polymer concepts, (iv) others, have been introduced Riggenbach, B. Pietzak, M. Molinelli, J. Electrolyte Fuel Cell’ (1993–1995) helped by various colleagues. Several tens of PhD Van Herle, R. Irhinger, O. Bucheli, ‘Swiss the project off the ground. In this IEA con- theses related to fuel cells were accom- SOFC Integration Activities: Stacks, Sys- text, two workshops were organized by PSI, plished during the past years and many are tems and Applications’, Chimia 2004, 58, 879. addressing the fuel processing issue for PE- currently pursued. Fuel cell research in [11] 1st IEA Workshop on ‘Fuel Processing for FCs [11][12]. Switzerland is a lively undertaking, held in Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cells’, Sept. Due to the support provided by high esteem by the international fuel cell 25–27, 1995, Paul Scherrer Institute, Villi- BFE/BEW and also to the integration into community. It is desirable to create more in- gen, Switzerland, organized by Paul European Projects (partners: Siemens, dustrial activities in the future. The neces- Scherrer Institut. ECN), a broad basis of materials-, opera- sary know-how as well as motivated people [12] 2nd IEA Advance Fuel Cell Workshop on tions- and design know-how for PEFCs are available! ‘Fuel Processing for Modular (=100 kW) could be developed. Collaborations within Fuel Cell Power Packages’, Sept. 29–Oct. Received: October 29, 2004 Switzerland concerned the HTLs of 1, 1997, Wislikofen Switzerland, organ- Grenchen/SO, Muttenz/BL, Biel/BE, and ized by Paul Scherrer Institut. Winterthur/ZH, later on also ETHZ. Sever- [1] U. Bossel, ‘The Birth of the Fuel Cell [13] Paul Scherrer Institut, press release al ‘products’ could be demonstrated during 1835–1845’, The European Fuel Cell 12.10.2004, www.psi.ch. Forum, Oberrohrdorf/Switzerland, 2000, recent years, ranging from 100 W H2/O2, [14[ Fuel Cell Research Symposium ‘Model- ISBN 3-905592-06-1. 300 W H2/air, 1.5 kW H2/air portable sys- ling and Experimental Validation’, ETH tems, up to 2.5 kW, several 8.5 kW, and a [2] E. Baur, H. Preis, Z. Elektrochem. 1937, Zürich, 18–19 March 2004, organized by ca. 30 kW stack for mobile applications 43, 727; E. Baur, H. Preis, Angew. Physik. L. Gauckler, D. Poulikakos, A. Wokaun. (boats, respectively cars). Most recently, in Chem. 1938, 44, 695. collaboration with the company CDM [3] A. Schmid,‘Die Diffusionsgaselektrode’,.