Faculty of Engineering, Chemical engineering department Research Grant for Development of Cost-Effective New Catalyst Technologies for High Performance Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells

The study discuss that Fuel cells appeared to be promising in terms of efficiency, reliability, safety, moving flexibility and providing electricity for portable electronic applications. Basically, a FC is a simple galvanic cell but reactants (fuel and oxygen from air) are continuously supplied. The classifications of FCs depend on their operating temperatures, the nature of electrolyte and sometimes the fuel employed. The famous H2/O2 FCs (HFCs) belong to the polymer electrolyte membrane FCs (PEMFCs) that employ H2 gas as a fuel (the lightest carbon-free fuel), utilize solid membranes (e.g., Nafion® membranes) as the electrolyte (that should permit only the proton conduction and prevent the electronic conduction), and operate at low temperatures. Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells (PEMFCs) are known to achieve high power (>1Wcm-2) and energy densities, high electrical efficiencies required for portable, automobile, and stationary applications and operates quietly without any emissions. Currently, platinum-based catalysts are the most commercially available options for many catalytic applications such as oxygen reduction reaction, energy conversion and storage applications. However, high cost of platinum catalyst is an issue that significantly increases the cost of the device and act as a barrier to the commercialization of PEMFC. so most of the recent research was directed for the fabrication of highly active catalyst with lower cost that could be used in such vital applications.