Ellinor Ehrnberg, President of Smoltek Innovation

Collaboration agreement signed for Smoltek’s green hydrogen solutions

The group com­pa­ny Smoltek Inno­va­tion has signed a col­lab­o­ra­tion agree­ment with a large inter­na­tion­al man­u­fac­tur­er of mate­r­i­al for elec­trolyz­ers. The col­lab­o­ra­tion agree­ment includes the devel­op­ment of demon­stra­tors based on Smoltek’s high­ly effi­cient nanofiber-based cell mate­r­i­al for PEM electrolyzers.

The par­ties have signed a col­lab­o­ra­tion agree­ment, which means that Smoltek’s car­bon nanofibers and cor­ro­sion pro­tec­tion will be com­bined with oth­er mate­ri­als from the man­u­fac­tur­er, and cat­a­lyst par­ti­cles from a third par­ty, into a lab-sized demon­stra­tor. This demon­stra­tion mate­r­i­al will then be inte­grat­ed into a com­plete PEM elec­trolyz­er cell, fol­lowed by test runs and mea­sure­ment of its performance.

“It is excit­ing that we and our part­ner have now signed a col­lab­o­ra­tion agree­ment for this devel­op­ment project, and we are both look­ing for­ward to devel­op­ing a com­plete PEM elec­trolyz­er cell with our patent-pro­tect­ed technology,”

says Fabi­an Wenger, Tech Lead at Smoltek Innovation

This project is con­duct­ed to ver­i­fy the poten­tial of Smoltek’s nanofiber-based cell mate­r­i­al and its abil­i­ty to reduce the amount of extreme­ly expen­sive cat­a­lyst par­ti­cles in PEM elec­trolyz­ers. Smoltek’s car­bon nanofiber tech­nol­o­gy increas­es the active sur­face that is in con­tact with the mem­brane in the elec­trolyz­er cell, which in turn reduces the total size of the elec­trolyz­er with main­tained pro­duc­tion capacity.

“Togeth­er, these prop­er­ties sig­nif­i­cant­ly reduce the pro­duc­tion cost for green hydrogen,”

says Elli­nor Ehrn­berg, Pres­i­dent of Smoltek Innovation.

EU Hydro­gen invest­ments are sky­rock­et­ing
18 May 2022 the Euro­pean Com­mis­sion pre­sent­ed a wide range of ini­tia­tives to reduce Europe’s reliance on fos­sil fuels and a list of pro­pos­als aimed to stim­u­late the pro­duc­tion of renew­able hydro­gen and to improve frame­work con­di­tions for Euro­pean elec­trolyz­er man­u­fac­tur­ers were includ­ed in this plan, known as RePow­erEU.

These pro­pos­als includ­ed, among oth­ers, two main tar­gets: To increase the indus­try tar­get from 50% renew­able hydro­gen con­sump­tion in 2030 to 75%. And to dou­bling the next ETS Inno­va­tion Fund call for large scale projects set to be announced in Autumn of this year. EUR 3 bil­lion will be made avail­able, for among oth­er elec­trolyz­er manufacturers.

”Fur­ther­more, the Euro­pean elec­trol­yser man­u­fac­tur­ing capac­i­ty must be scaled-up sig­nif­i­cant­ly to meet the expect­ed demand for renew­able hydro­gen pro­duc­tion. Elec­trol­yser man­u­fac­tur­ers in Europe set the objec­tive to have in place by 2025 a com­bined annu­al elec­trol­yser man­u­fac­tur­ing capac­i­ty in Europe of 17.5 GW, and to fur­ther increase that capac­i­ty by 2030 in line with pro­ject­ed demand for renew­able and low-car­bon hydrogen48. To sup­port these objec­tives, the Euro­pean Com­mis­sion will put in place enabling reg­u­la­to­ry frame­work, facil­i­tate access to finance and pro­mote effi­cient sup­ply chains. The upscal­ing of the elec­trol­yser man­u­fac­tur­ing capac­i­ties will require invest­ments esti­mat­ed at up to €2bn,”

states the RePoweEU plan.

Related insights from Smoltek

Hand held circular disc with Smoltek logo

Smoltek—from carbon nanofibers to mind-controlled robotic prostheses

Smoltek holds unique world patents for technologies that make material engineering on an atomic level possible. Smoltek has solutions that allow continued miniaturization and increased performance of semiconductors, contribute to carbon-free steel production and renewable energy storage, and enable mind control of robotic prostheses. This is a story of how Smoltek came to be.

Electrolysis & fuel cells

Carbon nanofibers in hydrogen electrolysis & fuel cells Hydro­gen has emerged as a key to store renew­able ener­gy and mak­ing heavy indus­try car­bon-free. Two appli­ca­tion areas of imme­di­ate vital impor­tance. The core tech­nolo­gies that make this pos­si­ble are hydro­gen elec­trol­y­sis and fuel cells. Elec­trol­y­sis con­verts elec­tric­i­ty into hydro­gen, while fuel cells con­vert the hydro­gen back to elec­tric­i­ty....
Ola Tiverman, President Smoltek Semi

Operational update on the activities in Smoltek Semi

A main goal for Smoltek Semi is to develop an industrial process for mass production of discrete CNF-MIM capacitors at contract manufacturers (foundry), including a specially designed machine for large-scale production of carbon nanofibers.

Smoltek signs evaluation license agreement with leading passive components manufacturer

Smoltek announces that the company has signed yet another evaluation agreement, this time with a leading manufacturer of passive electronics components including capacitors. The agreement relates to an evaluation license where Smoltek's patented carbon nanofiber-based CNF-MIM technology is evaluated in a joint project. The order value for this first step amounts to approximately SEK 1 million and is intended to lead to a production license agreement in the next step.

Advances in our technology for new cell material for electrolyzers

Smoltek has achieved proof-of-concept for high-performing, nanofiber-based cell material for PEM-electrolyzers. In our laboratory we have demonstrated that the cell material fulfills several important performance and durability requirements, including very low contact resistance, which potential industrial partners have stated that they want to test before a collaboration regarding the continued development can be initiated.
Ola Tiverman, President Smoltek Semi

License agreement for evaluation of CNF-MIM technology extended

Smoltek announces that the agreement signed with a leading capacitor manufacturer for technical and commercial evaluation of the company’s CNF-MIM technology has been further extended, to December 31. At the same time, the parties have initiated a concrete dialogue on a possible continuation of the collaboration, with a decision to be expected during the first quarter of 2021.
Ellinor Ehrnberg, President Smoltek Innovationi

Update on the operational activities in Smoltek Innovation

Smoltek Innovation's efforts to develop a unique and high-performance nanofiber-based cell material for electrolyzers used in fossil-free hydrogen production continues to develop according to plan. Dialogues are now ongoing with the aim of signing a collaboration agreement with a major manufacturer for the continued development of the concept.

Smoltek signs evaluation license agreement with leading capacitor manufacturer

Smoltek announces that the company has signed an evaluation agreement with one of the world’s largest capacitor manufacturers. The agreement concerns a project with a license for evaluation of Smoltek’s patented carbon nanofiber-based CNF-MIM technology. The intention is to replace the evaluation agreement with a production license agreement as a next step. The order value for this first step amounts to approximately SEK 1 million.
Ellinor Ehrnberg, President Smoltek Innovationi

Revolutionizing electrolyzer technology to meet future needs for cost-effective hydrogen

Hydrogen will play a key role in a number of industries, not least in providing the industries with so-called "green electricity", as part of Europe's energy transition to climate neutrality. But someone must also produce the huge amounts of hydrogen that will be required to meet the growing needs. At the moment Smoltek Innovation AB is testing its carbon nanofiber based technology, which may drastically increase productivity in hydrogen production at a lower cost than current technology.
Wafer with CNF-MIM capacitors (mockups)

License agreement for evaluation of CNF-MIM technology extended

The evaluation license agreement that Smoltek signed in April 2020 with a global manufacturer of electronic components has been extended further. The work within this project is carried out by the subsidiary Smoltek Semi, whose main objective is to develop and license the manufacture of ultra-thin capacitors based on Smoltek's patent-protected carbon nanofiber technology.

License agreement for evaluation of CNF-MIM technology extended

Smoltek announces that the agreement signed with a global manufacturer of electronic components for technical and commercial evaluation of the company's CNF-MIM technology will be extended until the end of March 2021. In addition to further evaluation, the parties will also discuss the way forward after the evaluation, including a potential broadening of the collaboration.