Successful research on hydrogen technologies despite a pandemic health crisis (EFCF2021)

The 25th edition of the European Electrolyser & Fuel cell Forum (EFCF 2021) in Lucerne, Switzerland, focusing on low temperature electrolyzers, fuel cells, and H₂ processing, has taken place under unusual circumstances.

On the one hand, the urgency to fight climate change has finally reached the decision makers at the highest level of the European Union, putting in place the so-called “Green Deal” under Mrs. Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Commission. Hydrogen and related technologies are finally understood as enabler of a decarbonized economy and recognized as strategic field for the creation of a new industry and the associated jobs in Europe.

On the other hand, COVID19 pandemic has strongly affected the daily work of researchers and engineers, as well as the pace of progress due to practical reasons. The challenges of the pandemic situation and the restrictions applied due to this have obliged the organizers to keep the EFCF 2021 edition as a fully virtual event. The EFCF conference series is well known as more than a mere scientific and technical exchange on the latest results. Therefore, one of the main challenges was to facilitate direct interaction between peers. To accomplish this, a dedicated virtual meeting place was offered to allow people to exchange casually. Up to 80 conference participants simultaneously used the opportunity of this side-offering, and we are confident that this has led to new ideas and joint projects, as would have been the case physically in Lucerne.

Challenged by the political changes and the increased interest, EFCF2021 decided not to broaden the scope of topics but to focus on fundamental understanding of electrocatalyst materials and reaction kinetics, as well as progresses and current issues for fuel cell and electrolyzer systems, respectively. Furthermore, contributions related to advanced characterization and diagnostic methods as well as system modeling have been featured during the conference, and a session was dedicated to hydrogen processing including H₂ purification, compression, storage, and distribution.

In total, 157 papers were presented at EFCF2021, of which more than 100 were presented in live-streamed sessions. The poster presentations were freely accessible during the conference on EFCF's website in the form of pdf files or MP4 presentations. Finally, a limited number of scientific papers have been selected to become part of this special issue.

Many thanks are due to the Editor-in-Chief Prof. Ulrich Stimming and Associate Editor Dr. Petra Bele of the journal Fuel Cells – From Fundamentals to Applied Systems for their great support on publishing this topical issue in this esteemed journal.