Shanghai TangFeng Energy Technology Co., Ltd. recently completed a Series C financing of nearly 300 million yuan. This round of financing is jointly led by Jinpu Intelligence, Frontier Investment, and Dongfeng Asset Management, with Shaanxi Coal Qinling Science and Technology Innovation Investment, Shangyin International, Jiuyi Investment, and Shique Investment as co investors. Hillhouse Venture Capital and Longma Peak Venture Capital as old shareholders continue to make additional investments. Dr. Zhu Fengjuan, General Manager of TangFeng Energy, stated that the funds raised in this round of financing will mainly be used for research and development and production line upgrades.

        TangFeng Energy was founded in 2017 and is a high-tech company with a complete set of core technologies including fuel cell and electrolytic cell "heart" membrane electrode design, materials, processes, equipment, testing and evaluation. The founder, chairman, and chief scientist of the company, Professor Junliang Zhang from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, has been deeply involved in the hydrogen and fuel cell industry for more than 20 years. The company is committed to leading the hydrogen fuel cell industry with technology in the field of hydrogen energy technology and applications, providing zero carbon, efficient clean energy and power to the world, and working with partners to create a beautiful green earth for humanity. Since its establishment, the company has always adhered to independent innovation, based on the characteristics of process technology, independently developed and manufactured equipment and testing characterization equipment, and cooperated with strategic suppliers for equipment integration and debugging. At present, low precious metal film electrode products have been continuously and stably supplied to well-known domestic and foreign fuel cell stack and system customers.

TangFeng Energy Membrane Electrode Products

        Membrane electrodes are mainly composed of catalysts, proton exchange membranes, and gas diffusion layers. They are the power generation sites for fuel cells to convert hydrogen energy into electrical energy, and their performance directly affects the performance of fuel cells. In fuel cell stacks, compared to other fuel cell components, the cost of membrane electrodes accounts for a high proportion, accounting for over 60% of the cost of fuel cell stacks. Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are currently the main application scenario of hydrogen energy, and will be applied in multiple scenarios such as urban buses, municipal sanitation, engineering construction, logistics and distribution.

According to reports, as of July 2022, a total of 10574 fuel cell vehicles have been promoted in China; It is expected that by 2030, fuel cell vehicles will continue to increase in volume, with a production and sales scale of one million units; The demand for membrane electrodes will exceed 10 million square meters, with a production scale of over 10 billion yuan. Dr. Zhu Fengjuan, General Manager of TangFeng Energy, said, "In the next few years, with the iteration and scale improvement of technology, the cost of membrane electrodes will continue to decrease. The overall market for hydrogen fuel cell applications is promising, and the prospects are promising.

        Platinum catalyst is an important material for membrane electrodes. When fuel cells are widely promoted and applied, the cost of platinum catalyst is expected to account for more than 40% of the stack cost. Therefore, developing low platinum high-performance membrane electrodes is a fundamental task for the development of fuel cell technology. The performance of fuel cells is directly proportional to the platinum loading and the performance per unit platinum loading, and the performance per unit platinum loading depends on the electrochemical activity specific surface area of platinum (utilization rate of platinum atoms), the catalytic activity of surface platinum atoms, and the oxygen transport efficiency in fuel cells. So the power generation performance of membrane electrodes with the same platinum loading can vary greatly.

TangFeng Energy has long been committed to developing platinum carbon catalysts, platinum alloy catalysts, and platinum based core-shell catalysts with high specific surface area, high platinum atom utilization, and high activity. At the same time, it has conducted in-depth research on the poor stability of membrane electrodes and the deterioration of oxygen transport efficiency in membrane electrodes caused by low platinum. Based on the discovered mechanisms and laws of micro nano scale mass transfer and attenuation in the catalytic layer, a stepped electrode catalytic layer configuration was constructed to improve the uniformity of ion polymer distribution, regulate the charge state, particle structure, and dispersion state of the catalyst carrier, optimize the three-phase interface, enhance bulk and local mass transfer, effectively solve the contradiction between low platinum loading and high power density discharge in fuel cells, the contradiction between low platinum loading and long life of fuel cells, and the contradiction between low platinum loading and wide operating adaptability.

At present, the company's independently developed products have a power density of ≥ 1.5W/cm2 and have passed performance and stability verification under harsh working conditions at the vehicle specification level. The next generation of membrane electrode products with higher performance and lifespan is currently under development and is expected to be mass-produced by the end of 2024. This product will further reduce the cost of fuel cells and prepare for the promotion of million level vehicles in the future.

At present, TangFeng Energy has a comprehensive research and development center and two manufacturing and testing bases to meet the needs of product technology iteration development and production shipment. Up to now, it has sold nearly two million membrane electrode products and nearly 6000 sets of fuel cell stack systems at home and abroad. At the same time, it has also completed layout in the fields of electrolytic water and power plant generation.

At present, the hydrogen energy industry is in a trend, but its real market still needs to mature. The sub sectors of proton membrane fuel cells and membrane electrodes for hydrogen production by electrolysis of water may face the risk of overcapacity, which may lead to homogenization of membrane electrode technology and products.

        Dr. Zhu Fengjuan believes that companies in China's hydrogen and fuel cell industries should leverage their respective strengths and characteristics, develop irreplaceable technologies and products, avoid homogeneous competition and low-level replication, strive to improve the industrial chain, and build a hydrogen energy application system; TangFeng Energy will continue to innovate, research and manufacture low-cost, high-performance, and long-life electrolytic water hydrogen production and fuel cell membrane electrode products, providing strong Chinese "cores" for the hydrogen energy industry.