Pajarito Powder’s PMF Catalyst product, the original basis and first product of the company has received industry-wide acclaim in the form of orders.
Sales of the novel catalyst have been strong and status of “State of the Art” was recently confirmed through purchases for benchmarking in leading FCH JU European research projects. Pajarito Powder customers have disclosed the intention to use the catalyst for specific European Union evaluation programs, most notably CRESCENDO and PEGASUS.
The purpose of CRESCENDO is to “…develop highly active and long-term stable electrocatalysts of non-platinum group metal (PGM-free) catalysts for the PEMFC cathode using a range of complementary and convergent approaches, and will redesign the cathode catalyst layer so as to reach the project target power density and durability requirements…” Included is the goal of developing PGM-free or ultra-low PGM anode catalysts with greater tolerance to impurities than current low Pt-loaded anodes. Coordinated by CNRS (France), the project is slated to last through 2020.
Similarly, PEGASUS is focused on the strategic importance to “…transition to PGM-free catalysts… …as quickly as possible to ensure Europe’s competitive position and to reduce market pressure on the use of scarce noble metals.” PEGASUS research is focused on the removal of platinum and other critical raw materials and their replacement by non-critical elements enabling efficient and stable electro-catalysis for performing and durable PEMFCs.
The goal of the project is to advance novel catalysts with five principle objectives towards validation: 1) High performance, 2) durability and 3) low cost MEAs 4) Robust test protocols and 5) evaluation of degradation.
Pajarito and Pajarito personnel are advisors board members for PEGASUS, and will be working with PEGASUS to develop standardized protocols and understanding for PGM-free catalysts
