Yushan Yan, at the
wheel of a fuel cell vehicle, is conducting research on the use
of nickel as a
catalyst in an alkaline electrolyte that promises to bring down the
cost of hydrogen
fuel cells.
(January 15, 2016) Yan
research team reports success with low-cost nickel-based catalyst
Planes, Trains and Automobiles is a popular comedy from the
1980s, but there’s nothing funny about the amount of energy consumed by our
nation’s transportation sector.
This sector — which includes passenger cars, trucks, buses,
and rail, marine, and air transport — accounts for more than 20 percent of
America’s energy use, mostly in the form of fossil fuels, so the search is on
for environmentally friendly alternatives.
The two most promising current candidates for cars are fuel
cells, which convert the chemical energy of hydrogen to electricity, and
rechargeable batteries.
The University of Delaware’s Yushan Yan believes that fuel
cells will eventually win out.
“Both fuel cells and batteries are clean technologies that
have their own sets of challenges for commercialization,” says Yan,
Distinguished Engineering Professor in the Department of Chemical and
Biomolecular Engineering.
“The key difference, however, is that the problems facing
battery cars, such as short driving range and long battery charging time, are
left with the customers. By contrast, fuel cell cars demand almost no change in
customer experience because they can be charged in less than 5 minutes and be
driven for more than 300 miles in one charge. And these challenges, such as
hydrogen production and transportation, lie with the engineers.”