Hydrogen production via high temperature water electrolysis technology
The share of renewable and sustainable energy power plants has been increasing for decades in order to reduce dependency on fossil fuels and to mitigate carbon dioxide emission. Neverthess, the intermittency and variability of such an energy system creates challenges for micro-grid operators. To reduce the stress on peak shaving, the development of efficient energy conversion/storage technologies is crucial.
The protonic ceramic electrochemical cell (PCEC) is a proton-conductor-based solid oxide cell that can serve in a reversible operation manner to store renewable energies using water electrolysis to produce hydrogen and then convert it back to electricity in fuel cell mode. The application of PCECs demonstrates the uniqueness of combining the bi-function of energy storage and distributed power generation by integrating PCEC and balance of the plant into one system. As significant advances have been made in solid state proton conductors and related electrochemical cells (fuel cells and electrolzyers) in the past decade, PCEC represents a promising technology for the purpose of achieving low-cost energy storage and conversion at reduced temperatures by offering attracting advantages such as high efficiency, longer system durability, and less expensive materials.
We are currently funded by DOE EERE Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology Office to focus on materials R&D and interface engineered P-SOEC stack development for promoting technology maturity for low-cost hydrogen production.
See more details: https://www.energy.gov/eere/fuelcells/bipartisan-infrastructure-law-clean-hydrogen-electrolysis-manufacturing-and-0
Electron-to-Molecule (E2M): electrocatalysis, catalyst design, system integration, interfaces
We work on chemical processing of dehydrogenating natural gas (methane or ethane) to ethylene or aromatics molecule in thermochemical or electrochemical approach. The cheap natural gas can be effectively converted to higher value added molecules as building block materials for industry. We focus on the development of catalysts or electrocatalysts, integration, optimization for delivering efficient and durable chemical processing.
The hydrogen as co-product gas can be also utilized for electricity generation. Therefore, we can co-generate chemicals and electricity at the same time in one single device to further enhance economic feasibility of the technology.
We have active DOE project with Kansas State University working on this topic.
Electrochemical Carbon-Dioxide Conversion to Chemicals
There is a significant opportunity for the United States chemicals industry to decarbonize and impact global carbon emissions. The chemicals sector consumes the most energy and emits the most carbon in manufacturing, accounting for an estimated 8,619 trillion British thermal units (TBtu) of primary energy consumption and an associated 332 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. As nuclear plants provide high-quality renewable electrons and heat, a more sustainable chemistry pathway can be developed by integrating these energies into electrochemical CO2 reduction system to produce high-value chemical product, which can be transported easily for using as fuel or intermediates of many industrial chemicals.
We have an active project to work with Idaho National Laboratory to work on integrating electrode-catalyst one-body high-entropy alloy cluster with a dual-purpose electrolyte-steam electrode backbone to form a heterogeneous structure for methanol synthesis with CO2 and water as feedstock.
Electrolyte development for P-SOEC technology
Proton conducting electrolyte with high conductivity and stability is critical for developing highly durable water-splitting technology.
We are having a project with Idaho National Laboratory to work on exploring new compositions for electrolyte development.