Battery, Fuel Cell, Solar

Batteries

Coating solutions for batteries

Highly developed battery technologies such as lithium-ion, lithium polymer, solid state, redox flow and nickel-metal hydride batteries require efficient coating and casting processes for anodes, cathodes and separator. Particularly for thin film batteries.

Battery developers and manufacturers can choose between one side or double side coating in a horizontal or vertical approach. Coatema machines can work with nickel foam, thin copper substrate or aluminium films, expanded metals and diverse types of separators.

A broad range of coating and printing methods can be used: Doctor blade, commabar/reverse commabar, slot die, gravure printing, rotary screen printing or flat screen printing. Advanced intermittent coatings are standard for Coatema applications and can also be applied in a simultaneous double side method. In addition to our coating plants, Coatema's calender systems are worthy of note. They can be supplied as piece good calenders or as complete Roll-to-Roll production solutions.

Fuel Cells

Coating solutions for fuel cells

Twenty years of experience in the fuel cells market and close collaboration with research institutes around the world, we're a competent partner for the entire process from development through to series production. Working in fuel clusters like the FCI in Aachen has resulted in a diverse background in fuel cell technology. Coatema works in the fields of AFC, PEMFC, HTPEM, SOFC and MOFC fuel cells. The main usage area of Coatema machines is the 7-layer membrane electrode assembly area. Here, different concepts are offered from small piece good systems up to integrated production solutions with a working width of up to 1,200 mm. Coatema offers machines for the following components:

• Membrane = membrane
• Indirectly coated CCM
• Directly coated CCM
• Casting or production of fuel cell membranes
• Bipolar plate coated before or after shaping

On our plants, you can impregnate GDLs (gas diffusion layers) and apply micro catalysts and platinum catalysts to gas diffusion layers. The GDLs can be paper, non-woven materials or fabrics. Systems for the casting of membranes and direct/indirect coating of membranes with platinum catalysts are also offered.

The following coating systems can be used here: Doctor blade, gravure rollers, slot dies and micro rollers. These are available as modular coating heads that can be quickly changed, giving a high level of flexibility.

Solar

Coating solutions for solar cells

For more than fifteen years, research has been conducted on alternatives to silicon-based solar cells. Particular research focuses include printed CIGS, dye-sensitised solar cells (DSSCs), and polymer solar cells. Here, the roll-to-roll production of these solar cells has been a focal point for Coatema Coating Machinery GmbH. Naturally, Coatema is also involved in developments for new cell types such as perovskite solar cells. In addition to FP7 and H20220 EU projects on the topic of polymer solar cells, Coatema has been and still is, involved in all major pilot plants for the aforementioned technologies. Today, we're even the market leader in some areas.

Since the first usage of flexible organic solar cells at the turn of the century, Coatema has been delivering coating, printing and encapsulation solutions in this relatively new market. Together with our sister companies KROENERT and DRYTEC, Coatema can supply production solutions with a working width of up to 2,000 mm.

For some years, Coatema's plants have also been equipped with laser structuring or nanoimprinting technology. Our delivery range is rounded off by several encapsulation machines for flexible solar cells in a nitrogen atmosphere.

As an example, you can see a Smartcoater with an inert atmosphere, laser structuring and encapsulation with barrier films here. This was delivered to the Fraunhofer ILT in 2008 as part of the FlexLas project. We also feature a Click&Coat^TM plant for a research partner in Australia.

However, flexible organic solar cells are also manufactured on a large scale using larger pilot plants such as at the VTT PrintoCent development centre in Finland.