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9/15/03 Enfield, Connecticut - Oxford Performance Materials, Inc. (OPM) has been awarded a contract from the Department of Energy (DOE) in order to expand the firm’s high temperature fuel cell membrane research and development activity. The $250,000 dollar contract was from DOE’s Inventions and Innovations program. OPM’s fuel cell membrane research, which commenced in 1999, has principally been undertaken at the University of Connecticut under the direction of Prof. Robert Weiss, a world class specialist in the field of ionomers and polymer blends. This new DOE contract award will allow for OPM to expand its internal activity to include Membrane Electrode Assembly (MEA) and testing at its Enfield facility. The fuel cell activities of OPM are directed by Dr. Richard Bellows, who has 20 years electro-chemical experience with fuel cell systems and advanced batteries during his career at Exxon Corporate Research Laboratories and more recently at International Fuel Cells. “We are of the opinion that the current fluorinated membranes on offer are a key limiting factor to the commercialization of the fuel cell industry. In the recent DOE Fuel Cell Report to Congress, higher temperature membrane development was identified as a key target.
"We are going directly at this target with our advanced S-PEKK
thermoplastic polymer technologies and other complimentary technologies that we have under
development,” said Dr. Bellows. OPM intends to collaborate with a limited number of device manufacturers for evaluation of its novel MEA by mid 2004. Interested parties may contact Dr. Bellows at
research@oxfordpm.com. OPM maintains a long term view of the fuel cell industry. The
firm's OXPEKK® thermoplastic polymers offer solutions in end plates, insulator plates, hydrogen infrastructure as well as membranes. “This contract allows for OPM to take a significant step forward, and advance a fundamentally sound and highly innovative approach that meets both technical and economic requirements of energy
consumers,” said Scott DeFelice, President of OPM. Founded in 2000, OPM is a high performance thermoplastic
polymer company. The firm’s OXPEKK® products are sold into aerospace, medical, semiconductor and industrial markets on a global basis. For additional information,
contact info@oxfordpm.com. Top of page
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