Zhongke Hydrogen Energy Closes Eight-Figure Pre-A Round, Accelerating Mass Production of Alkaline Hydrogen Production Composite Membranes

Ningbo Zhongke Qingyi Membrane Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Zhongke Qingyi") recently completed a Pre-A funding round of tens of millions of RMB, led by Gaorong Ventures, with participation from CMB International, Vision Group, Yankon Lighting, and Yazhou Bay Venture Capital. Since early 2023, Zhongke Qingyi has completed three funding rounds, with cumulative financing approaching 100 million RMB.

Founded in May 2022 by a membrane research team with backgrounds at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Zhongke Qingyi focuses on the R&D, production, and sales of novel membrane materials for new energy and high-value-added applications. Its products are widely applicable to advanced equipment including alkaline water electrolyzers for hydrogen production, flow batteries, CO2 electrolytic reduction cells, anion exchange membrane electrolyzers, anion exchange membrane fuel cells, and high-temperature fuel cells.

Independently Developed Composite Membrane Products with Excellent Performance

Zhongke Qingyi independently developed the EHYDRO® product series, which primarily uses polymer membrane materials supplemented by non-precious metal catalysts. EHYDRO® membrane products feature high ionic conductivity and low gas permeability; EHYDRO® electrode products exhibit low overpotential and excellent dynamic and static stability. The combined membrane + electrode material technology solution improves hydrogen production purity, effectively reduces electrolyzer system energy consumption, and significantly enhances tank compatibility with renewable energy sources.

Composite membrane application is a necessary path to improving the cost-performance ratio of alkaline electrolyzers, and the localization of composite membranes is central to achieving long-term cost reductions for electrolyzers and strengthening their international market competitiveness.

Zhongke Qingyi's third-generation composite membrane product, EHYDRO™PCM500+, not only demonstrates clear advantages in macroscopic performance metrics such as hydrophilicity and gas barrier properties, but also achieves improvements in membrane moisture retention and pressure resistance through refined control of microstructure, addressing pain points in practical engineering applications. The product has received positive feedback from leading manufacturers after testing and is approaching mass production.

Meanwhile, the R&D and production of a new generation of electrode products matching the membranes has progressed ahead of schedule. The EHYDRO™Coral series of non-precious metal nickel-based electrode products shows clear advantages in reducing energy consumption and static/dynamic stability, with bulk shipments imminent.

Aligning Technology with Industrial Application Scenarios to Accelerate High-Quality Mass Production and Delivery

Zhongke Qingyi's core team consists of PhDs with membrane research backgrounds and engineers with over ten years of experience in the membrane industry. Team members possess solid technical knowledge of membrane technology as well as extensive engineering expertise and experience.

To date, Zhongke Qingyi has completed the alignment of technology with industrial application scenarios, rapidly achieving customer validation, production line deployment, and product sampling on the product side, and has established a comprehensive quality management system, striving to provide high-grade, high-quality products and services to domestic and international customers on a stable basis.

Zhongke Qingyi stated that going forward, it will focus on the mass production process for membrane and electrode products, accelerating the delivery of high-quality mass-produced products, providing customers with superior alkaline hydrogen production material system solutions, continuing to adhere to its "affordable and reliable" product strategy, helping electrolyzer customers continuously upgrade product performance, better meeting end-market expectations for low-energy-consumption, high-efficiency, high-safety hydrogen production equipment, and advancing toward a low-carbon future.

Xin Wang, Managing Director at Gaorong Ventures, said, "Green hydrogen is an inevitable path to deep decarbonization and achieving carbon neutrality. Against this backdrop, the development space for water electrolysis hydrogen production equipment and its supporting key materials such as membranes and catalytic electrodes is substantial, with strong deterministic trends. Zhongke Qingyi's team not only has deep academic accumulation but also years of engineering mass production experience in industry, possessing outstanding comprehensive capabilities. The company's product technology layout has both depth and breadth, balancing short, medium, and long-term development. We look forward to and believe that Zhongke Qingyi can become a leading enterprise in key material equipment for the green hydrogen industry."