Research institutions and private companies in South Korea and Denmark have established the Danish Korean PEM Fuel Cell Network. The network addresses specific technological problems and aims to further increase the good relations between scientists of the two countries.
Research institutions in both Korea and Denmark are among the leading players in the field of high temperature PEM fuel cells (HT-PEMFC) and industries in both countries are in the process of commercializing the cells. Now the two countries have formed a network to improve the research.
The new bilateral Danish Korean PEM Fuel Cell Network, chaired by DTU Energy Conversion and Korea Institute for Science and Technology (KIST), is a joint effort to bring scientists and business developers from both countries together to introduce them to the PEMFC activities in each other’s countries and to help them make new contacts and strengthen and widen pre-established networks.
“Both DTU and KIST have a long standing tradition in fuel cell R&D. Joining our forces will speed up our research and rapidly improve our knowledge by learning from each other,” explains Dr. Dirk Henkensmeier, senior researcher at Fuel Cell Research Center under KIST.
Natural allies
South Korea is a strong economy in East Asia with a strong focus on science and an attractive strategic, scientific and economic partner for Denmark, just as Korea has a high regard for Denmark and the Danish view on culture, quality, science and design, seeing Denmark as a natural ally.
“South Korea was divided in two after the Korean War like Denmark was after the war in 1864. We are both small countries surrounded by bigger neighbors, who have focused on knowledge and hard work to overcome the loss and gain scientific and economic roles, which is far bigger than the sizes of our individual countries”, says Director Geir Helgesen, Nordic Institute of Asian Studies (NIAS), who is part of the scientific based network to spread intercultural understanding.
These similarities in history have led to an instinctive mutual respect and understanding of each other whenever Korean and Danish researchers meet. Associate professor Jens Oluf Jensen, head of PEM research at DTU Energy Conversion and Danish chair of the network, have felt it many times when visiting Korea and meeting Korean researchers visiting the Technical University of Denmark.
“We do have cultural differences, but they are often dwarfed by the many things we have in common. We think and do research very much alike, and both Korea and Denmark have strong scientific environments active in R&D within fuel cells, so it is easy for a Dane to cooperate with a Korean because we share a basic trust in each other”, says associate professor Jens Oluf Jensen.
Science and culture
South Korea and Denmark are both recognized for their well-known efforts to promote new energy technologies of which fuel cells constitute an important field with high expectations. The climate challenge has made the need for accelerated development of improved energy technologies even stronger.
The major technical challenge of the Danish Korean PEM Fuel Cell Network is to improve the performance and especially lifetime of high temperature PEM fuel cells by means of less expensive materials and processes. Performance and lifetime issues are to a large extent linked to the catalysts and the membrane, and the network will do research in both electrochemical catalysts and the development of ion conducting membranes with higher strength and stability for long term operation.
The work on membranes will be based on experiences in both Denmark and South Korea with modified polymers, composites and different post treatments.
However, the biggest objective of the Danish Korean PEM Fuel Cell Network is not technological but to lay the foundations of even larger joint research projects in the future between South Korea and Denmark by exchanging PhD-students, establishing more public-private relationships between research institutions and industries in the two countries and enhancing the cultural understanding of each other’s country even further among the scientists.
Last year, the collaboration between KIST and DTU was put on a solid foundation by establishing a joint 4M research center based at DTU Energy Conversion. 4M stands for Mechanisms, Materials, Manufacturing and Management, and the goal of the 4M research center is to do world class fundamental research on high temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cells.
Close collaboration
“We hope to further improve this close collaboration this year by welcoming students from DTU in our laboratories, bringing the collaboration to all levels of the hierarchy, an important keystone for a working partnership”, says Dr. Dirk Henkensmeier from KIST.
Professor Søren Linderoth, head of DTU Energy Conversion, acknowledges the importance of the close collaboration.
“DTU have established several such relationships with Korean research groups, major universities and industries such as Samsung, and this network further strengthens the close bonds between Denmark and Korea. I feel fairly certain that this involvement is one of the major reasons that DTU Energy Conversion was granted 4M, one two major Danish projects on PEM fuel cells in 2013.”
The Danish participants of Danish Korean PEM Fuel Cell Network and the related technological project KD Fuel Cells are DTU Energy Conversion, DTU Physics, Nordic Institute of Asian Studies and the two private companies Danish Power Systems and IRD Fuel Cells. The network is financially backed by the Danish Agency for Science, Technology and Innovation and its South Korean counterpart.