Fraunhofer Center for Silicon Photovoltaics CSPThe topic of hydrogen technologies is one of the seven strategic research fields of the Fraunhofer Society. With the aim of developing hydrogen technologies to market maturity in the short term and thus contributing to the energy transition, the Fraunhofer Society has established a hydrogen network. The over 36 member institutes within the network consolidate their activities in the field of hydrogen technologies. The competencies range from material and system development and production to applications in the energy industry and industry, as well as cross-cutting topics such as safety and lifecycle analyses.
Fraunhofer IMWS contributes its many years of experience and expertise in the characterization and development of materials. The current work primarily aims to provide safe materials, components, and systems for the hydrogen economy. Since the production and storage of high-purity hydrogen place significant demands on materials, excellent know-how in material characterization and diagnostics is an important prerequisite. Therefore, we analyze and characterize materials and components, especially using microstructural methods. This includes the entire process from production (material selection, material development, power electronics) to storage (high-pressure tanks) and transport (pipelines) to utilization (sensor components, investigation of aging effects), as well as integration into the energy system (techno-economic evaluations, feasibility analyses, simulation, system design).
