What Is Equipment as a Service (EaaS) for Hydrogen Research in India?

The Equipment Gap in Indian Hydrogen Research

Here's a scenario most PhD researchers in India know well: you have excellent ideas, a strong supervisor, and access to electrochemical testing equipment — but you can't make your own MEAs (Membrane Electrode Assemblies) because your institution doesn't have an ultrasonic spray coater or a calibrated hot press.

So you either:

• Collaborate with a lab 500 km away and wait weeks for samples
• Buy MEAs from an overseas supplier at ₹20,000+ each
• Give up on catalyst optimisation experiments entirely

This is the equipment gap. And it's slowing down India's hydrogen R&D at precisely the moment when the National Green Hydrogen Mission needs it to accelerate.

What Is Equipment as a Service (EaaS)?

Equipment as a Service is exactly what it sounds like: access to specialised equipment, charged by the session or by the hour, without the capital cost of ownership.

You bring your materials and experimental plan. We provide the equipment, the operator training, and the technical support. You get your results and go home.

Think of it like a co-working space — but for hydrogen fabrication equipment.

The Equipment Shakti Photon Solutions Offers

1. Ultrasonic Spray Nozzle System

What it does: Sprays catalyst ink onto substrates (GDEs, membranes) with highly uniform coating and minimal catalyst waste — a critical advantage over manual spraying.

Hydrogen research applications:

• Coating Nafion membranes with platinum catalyst for PEM electrolyzers
• Fabricating catalyst-coated membranes (CCMs) for AEM and PEM cells
• Spraying ionomer solutions for MEA optimisation studies
• Coating GDEs with iridium oxide for oxygen evolution reaction research

Why ultrasonic vs. manual spray: Ultrasonic atomisation produces droplets 10–50× smaller than conventional spray, giving coating uniformity within ±3% across the substrate — critical for reproducible MEA results.

2. Hot Press

What it does: Applies controlled temperature and pressure to bond membrane and electrode layers into a complete MEA.

Hydrogen research applications:

• Bonding CCM (catalyst-coated membrane) to GDEs at controlled temperature and pressure
• Laminating multi-layer electrode assemblies
• Studying the effect of bonding conditions on MEA ionic conductivity and interfacial resistance

Critical parameter: Temperature, pressure, and dwell time must be precisely controlled — typically 120–140°C for Nafion-based MEAs. Our system is fully calibrated and validated.

3. 3D Printing (FDM + Resin)

What it does: Rapid prototyping of custom components from CAD files in hours, not weeks.

Hydrogen research applications:

• Custom flow field plates for electrochemical cell testing
• Gasket and sealing components for custom test cells
• Housing for miniature electrolyzer prototypes
• Educational demonstration units

How the Booking Process Works

What to Bring to Your EaaS Session

• Your catalyst ink / ionomer solution (prepared to your specifications)
• Your membrane or substrate material
• Your experimental protocol (we'll review it in advance)
• Your institution's safety training certificate (for hazardous materials handling)

We provide equipment, consumables like substrate holders and masking tape, operator training, and written notes of the session parameters.

Who Uses Our EaaS Programme?

• PhD students at IIT, NIT, and central universities who need MEA fabrication for their thesis work
• Hydrogen startups building first prototypes before committing to equipment capital expenditure
• Industry R&D teams running one-off experiments that don't justify equipment purchase
• Government research labs (CSIR, DRDO affiliates) needing access to equipment not available in their own facilities