Funadació EURECAT
Eurecat – Technology Centre of Catalonia – is the main technology center in Catalonia and the second largest private research organization in Southern Europe. Its technological expertise is structured into four main Technology Areas: Industrial, Digital, Biotechnological, and Sustainability. Across these areas, Eurecat brings together deep knowledge in more than 20 scientific and technological domains, including artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, advanced manufacturing, smart materials, printed electronics, robotics and automation, medical devices, circular economy, climate change, and health and nutrition.
Since 2011, Surface Technology Group of Eurecat has been actively working on the development of coatings for fuel cell and electrolyzer components. In collaboration with the company AJUSA and within the INNPACTO project INPLÁGENO (IPT-2012-0722-120000), Eurecat was a pioneer in Spain in the development of PVD cathodic arc coatings for the protection of PEM fuel cell bipolar plates. In this field, Eurecat continues its research through the FORMPLATE (CPP2021-008514) and H-LEAF (MIG-20232060) projects, focusing on the development of electrically conductive and corrosion-resistant coatings for bipolar plates used in PEM fuel cells and electrolysers.
The institute operates two laboratory-scale and one industrial-scale vacuum deposition systems enabling the development of plasma-based surface engineering processes such as cathodic arc evaporation, magnetron sputtering, CVD, and plasma immersion implantation. Its facilities also include laboratories for the chemical, physical, mechanical, and tribological characterization of coatings and surface treatments.
In collaboration with IREC, Eurecat is developing magnetron-sputtered coatings for high-temperature solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) and solid oxide electrolyzers (SOE) within the OXYBATT and SOCFILM projects. These capabilities are being actively applied within COMECOCO2 project to develop protective coatings for the advanced components.
