On August 26th, 2019, the 2019 World Fuel Cell Conference (WFCC2019), was held at Courtyard by Marriott Minghang in Shanghai. The conference was hosted by the International Association for Hydrogen Energy (IAHE), organized by Tsinghua University and Shanghai Jiao Tong University, co-organized by China Society of Automotive Engineers, the Chemical Industry and Engineering Society of China, China Chemical Society Electrochemical Committee, China Association for Hydrogen Energy, Shanghai Electrochemical Energy Devices Research Center and Tsinghua University - University of Waterloo Joint Research Center for Micro/Nano Energy & Environment Technology. About 250 representatives from all over the world attended the conference.

The opening ceremony was hosted by Prof. Zifeng Ma, Co-Chair of WFCC2019. Prof. Xianguo Li from University of Waterloo, Chairman of the Fuel Cell branch of IAHE, introduced the background and the preparation of the conference. Dr. Yu Morimoto, Fuel Cell R&D director of Toyota Central R&D Labs., Inc., Dr. Tobias Brunner, CEO of Hynergy GmbH in German and Prof. Jianbo Zhang from Tsinghua University addressed the opening ceremony respectively.

The opening ceremony was preceded by the Fuel Cell Technology Worshop. Prof. Xianguo Li, Prof. Jianbo Zhang and Dr. Yasuhito Aoki from Toray Central R&D Labs delivered a series of lectures titled Properties of hydrogen as a clean fuel, Principle of EIS and Application in Fuel Cell and Instruments Analysis of Fuel Cell Materials and its Correlation with FC performance respectively.

WFCC2019 was a multidisciplinary conference covering the latest advances in fuel cells. During the conference, representatives had in-depth exchanges about various topics, including electrode materials like PEMFC, SOFC, AFC, DMFC and PAFC, electrolyte materials, how to design and make electric reactors, system imitation and simulation, applications of fuel cells, manufacture and transportation of hydrogen energy, hydrogen storage, regulations for constructing a hydrogen refueling station, hydrogen energy economy and so on.

After the conference, representatives were invited to visit Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Prof. Zifeng Ma introduced the history and general condition of SJTU’s fuel cell research and showed them around the Fuel Cell Research Institute and the Automotive Technology Research Institute.

Dr. Tobias Brunner and Prof. Michael H. Eikerling from Germany, Dr. Atsushi Ohma and Dr. Yu Morimoto from Japan, Prof. John T.S. Irvine from the United Kington, Prof. Michael D. Guiver from Canada and Prof. Prof. Junliang Zhang and Prof. Minhua Shao from China gave impressive lectures at the conference. This conference had significant influence on the promotion of fuel cell technology exchange and industry development.

Author: Haiying CHE

Translator: Chenyun SUN

Reviser: Xiaoke HU