Queensland Government funds development of 3D printed fuel cells

The Queensland-Bavaria Collaborative Research Program, a joint initiative formed under a Declaration of Intent between the Queensland Department of Environment, Science, and Innovation and the Bavarian State Ministry of Science and the Arts, has awarded funding to multiple projects including those to do with the additive manufacturing of carbon materials to increase battery and fuel cell efficiency, designing better ways to handle the heat from spaceships’ atmospheric re-entry, helping find better treatments for infections, and identifying exercises that can treat osteoporosis.

The program will see the development of partnerships and research collaborations in the areas of cleantech, energy and storage, emission reduction technologies, artificial intelligence, quantum technologies, aerospace, additive manufacturing, health, life sciences, biomedical research, and the wider bioeconomy.

These are key areas supporting Queensland’s important development strategies including the Queensland Energy and Jobs Plan, Industry Roadmaps and Action Plans, and the Queensland Trade and Investment Strategy.

In April 2024, the Miles Government committed $600,000 in funding for the program’s first year, with the Bavarian State Ministry of Science and the Arts committing equivalent funding.

One of the program’s projects, ‘Additive Manufacturing of Carbon Materials’, focuses on carbon as a crucial material in energy technology in devices like batteries and fuel cells. This project brings together Bavarian expertise, from the Technical University of Munich, in designing and carbonizing photopolymer-derived carbon electrodes and Queensland University of Technology’s ability to photochemically synthesize polymers with purpose-designed molecular structures to ultimately enhance the performance of batteries and fuel cells.