The research and development at Topsoe Fuel Cell is directed towards three important areas for fuel cells: Fundamental material research, stack design, and manufacturing.
Fundamental Material Research
The choice of materials for the components such as cells, interconnects, coatings and seals are essential for both the cost and the performance of the fuel cell. As a spin-out from Haldor Topsøe, Topsoe Fuel Cell is staffed with scientists with many years of experience in material research and development.
Stack Design
Extensive fundamental knowledge and experience lie behind the Topsoe Fuel Cell design of the stack in terms of flow configuration (cross flow, counter flow or co-flow), the manifolds, and the geometry of the stack. Important parameters are flow and temperature distributions across the cells and along the stack. To optimize the stack design with regard to these parameters, Topsoe Fuel Cell makes use of proprietary cell and stack models and advanced CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) modelling tools.
Manufacturing
The cost of the fuel cell system is crucial for the market penetration of fuel cells. The cost of the fuel cell stack itself is expected to constitute around one third of the total system cost. In order to minimise costs, Topsoe Fuel Cell is cut the turf to a new, up-scaled cell and stack manufacturing facility in first quarter of 2007.
Partners
Topsoe Fuel Cell has a large network of partners with whom it leverages its research and development effort. Partners include major European and American research institutions, the most important being Risoe National Laboratory and private companies both up and down-stream the production of cells and stacks. At Risoe National Laboratory alone, 50 people are working on development of SOFC technology. | 
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