THE MAIN GOAL OF THIS PROJECT IS TO ESTABLISH AND IMPROVE US-BASED MANUFACTURING CAPACITY OF PEMION® NON-PFSA IONOMERS AND MEMBRANES, VALIDATE SCALABILITY, AND INCREASE PRODUCTION VOLUME. THE 2ND GOAL IS TO DEMONSTRATE A FULLY PFSA-FREE CATALYST COATED MEMBRANE (CCM) USING PILOT OR PRODUCTION SCALE EQUIPMENT. THIS CCM AIMS TO MEET THE DOE TARGETS FOR PERFORMANCE AND DURABILITY AS OUTLINED IN SUBSEQUENT SECTIONS. TO DO THIS THE TEAM WILL: • ESTABLISH A US-BASED PRODUCTION FACILITY (IONOMR). • OPTIMIZE IONOMER AND MEMBRANE MANUFACTURING PROCESSES TO INCREASE CAPACITY (IONOMR). • FABRICATE A FLUORINE-FREE REINFORCED MEMBRANE (IONOMR AND SUB-RECIPIENTS). • DEVELOP FLUORINE-FREE CATALYST LAYERS AND INCREASE UNDERSTANDING THEREOF (SUB-RECIPIENTS). • FABRICATE HIGH QUALITY, PFSA-FREE CCMS USING SCALABLE METHODS AND EQUIPMENT (SUB-RECIPIENTS). • VALIDATE PERFORMANCE AND DURABILITY IN INDUSTRY-RELEVANT SHORT AND FULL STACK FC TESTS (SUB-RECIPIENT). A DEEPER UNDERSTANDING OF PFSA-FREE CCM FORMULATION-STRUCTURE-PROPERTY RELATIONSHIPS WILL ENABLE UTILIZATION OF PEMION® AS BOTH MEMBRANE AND IONOMER IN THE CATALYST LAYERS, DOUBLING ITS UTILITY AND THE BENEFITS OF THE MFG. SCALE UP ACTIVITIES. IONOMR POSSESSES CONSIDERABLE INTERNAL KNOWLEDGE ON SYNTHESIS AND SCALE-UP OF ADVANCED FUNCTIONAL POLYMERS AND WILL COLLABORATE WITH LOCAL INDUSTRY EXPERTS UTILIZING PRE-EXISTING EQUIPMENT AND INFRASTRUCTURE TO ACCELERATE THIS GROWTH THROUGH THE VALIDATION AND REPEATABLE MANUFACTURING OF PEMION®. THE ROCHESTER, NY AND BOSTON, MA AREA IS HOME TO INDUSTRY WITH A SKILLED WORKFORCE AND DEEP HISTORY IN MEMBRANE AND POLYMER MANUFACTURING. COLLABORATION WITH THIS INDUSTRY WILL HELP ENABLE THE GOALS OF THIS PROJECT.