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Projects: Projects for Investigator
Reference Number	EP/N013670/1
Title	2-D materials as the next generation membranes in hydrogen generation and low temperature fuel cells.
Status	Completed
Energy Categories	Hydrogen and Fuel Cells(Fuel Cells) 50%; Hydrogen and Fuel Cells(Hydrogen, Hydrogen production) 50%;
Research Types	Basic and strategic applied research 100%
Science and Technology Fields	PHYSICAL SCIENCES AND MATHEMATICS (Metallurgy and Materials) 100%
UKERC Cross Cutting Characterisation	Not Cross-cutting 100%
Principal Investigator	Dr S Holmes No email address given Chemical Engineering and Analytical Science University of Manchester
Award Type	Standard
Funding Source	EPSRC
Start Date	01 March 2016
End Date	29 February 2020
Duration	48 months
Total Grant Value	£489,657
Industrial Sectors	Energy
Region	North West
Programme	Energy : Energy
Investigators	Principal Investigator	Dr S Holmes , Chemical Engineering and Analytical Science, University of Manchester (99.999%)
	Other Investigator	Dr R Raveendran Nair , Physics and Astronomy, University of Manchester (0.001%)
	Industrial Collaborator	Project Contact , ITM Power PLC (0.000%) Project Contact , 2-DTech Limited (0.000%)
Web Site
Objectives
Abstract	Fuel cells have been promoted as a pollution free alternative for energy generation when converting hydrogen into electricity. There are several constraints which have limited the implementation of this technology and this proposal addresses all of the major problems.To make hydrogen requires energy and using conventional methods requires electricity to electrolyse water, if the electricity comes from fossil fuels then the problem is simply moved rather than solved. To use renewable energy requires electrolysers where the energy intermittently generated by the source (wind, solar, tidal etc) is converted into hydrogen at source by an on-site Polymer Electrolyte Membrane (PEM) Electrolyser. The problem with PEM electrolysers is that the membrane used needs to be thick to prevent hydrogen mixing with oxygen to form an explosive mixture but the thickness of the membrane reduces efficiency.Similar problems manifest themselves in fuel cells, the conversion of hydrogen back into electricity requires a PEM fuel cell, the membrane is the same as in the electrolyser and again needs to be thick to prevent fuel crossover but this again reduces efficiency. A third technology, the Direct Methanol Fuel Cell (DMFC) was developed to address the problems around hydrogen storage but again the membrane is the same and again thickness and fuel crossover constrain the efficacy of the membrane.In this work we intend to take the properties of the graphene and hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) which have been proven to allow protons to pass but prevent all other transport of materials and apply them to the three technologies discussed. The materials challenges around the manufacture of a defect free barrier membrane will be tackled with the added benefit of utilising the expensive platinum catalyst more efficiently.The potential benefit of this work is that hydrogen production will become more efficient and the cost of converting the fuel into electricity in a fuel cell will decrease as the overall cost of the fuel cell is reduced. This will make viable the use of 'green hydrogen' as an energy storage medium and enable the route to market for PEM fuel cells which are necessary to convert the hydrogen (and other fuels such as methanol) into electrical energy. Another potential benefit of this study is the complete replacement of the membrane material by a supported graphene or hBN. This will facilitate the reduction in volume of a fuel cell, as the fuel will no longer need to be humidified so there will be fewer components, which is important for mobile/portable applications.
Publications	(none)
Final Report	(none)
Added to Database	25/04/16