Researchers
from UC Riverside Department of Chemical and Environmental
Engineering have published a paper on their research
aimed at reducing the cost of producing fuel cells
that have the potential to be a highly efficient
zero emission energy source for powering cars, buses
and homes.
The paper, titled Deposition Of Platinum Nanoparticles on Organic Functionalized
Carbon Nanotubes Grown in Situ on Carbon Paper for Fuel Cells, is coauthored
by Associate Professor Yushan Yan and graduate student Mahesh M. Waje, and postdoctoral
students Xin Wang and Wenzhen Li, all of the UCR's Department of Chemical and
Environmental Engineering and Center for Environmental Research and Technology.
The paper will appear in the July 2005 print version of the Institute
of Physics (IOP) Publishing journal Nanotechnology (Nano), .
Yan's work focuses on the use of carbon nanotubes – tiny tubes about 10,000 times
thinner than a human hair - as catalyst support in fuel cells to reduce the need
for platinum nanoparticles. The Pacific Fuel Cell Corporation and the UC Discovery
Grant program support the research.
Fuel cell systems produce highly efficient, zero emission electrical energy.
Ideally, chemicals continuously flow through the cells, making it a constant
energy source.
For the reported work – Yan and his cohorts are concentrating on organically
functionalized carbon nanotubes to further reduce the need for platinum nanoparticles
in Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells (PEMFC), which are favored by automobile
manufacturers to replace the combustible engine. They are also considered ideally
suited for a wide range of other applications, including replacing rechargeable
batteries.
Platinum represents one of the largest expenses in producing PEMFCs, thus reducing
Pt use making fuel cells more commercially viable.
“Pt is one of the major cost drivers for fuel cells and thus, reducing the Pt
use will reduce the cost of fuel cells, which is the major barrier for commercialization,” said
Yan.
Yan received his B. S. in Chemical Physics from the University of Science and
Technology of China and his M. S. and Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the
California Institute of Technology. He came to the University of California,
Riverside in 1998 after working for two years as a senior staff engineer at Allied
Signal Inc.
Mahesh Waje graduated with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from University Institute
of Chemical Technology, India, Dr. Xin Wang received his Ph.D. from the Hong
Kong University of Science and Technology and Dr. Wenzhen Li received his Ph.D.
from the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Related Links:
Additional
Contacts:Yushan Yan
The
University of California, Riverside is a major
research institution and a national center for
the humanities. Key areas of research include nanotechnology,
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sustainable growth and development. With a current
undergraduate and graduate enrollment of nearly
17,000, the campus is projected to grow to 21,000
students by 2010. Located in the heart of inland
Southern California, the nearly 1,200-acre, park-like
campus is at the center of the region's economic
development.
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