Tough fuel cells can stabilize the power grid by creating and storing energy in extreme industrial conditions

West Virginia University engineers have designed and successfully tested fuel cells that can store or manufacture electricity and generate hydrogen from water to build modern electric grids that are flexible and resilient to handle energy sources of decline and flow, such as solar and wind.

Unlike similar technologies, fuel cells can withstand the heat and steam generated when running on industrial scales for high power and long periods of time. Additionally, it addresses three major issues regarding the existing design of potentially valuable energy technologies known as “proton ceramic electrochemical cells.”

This study has been published in the journal Nature Energy.

Xingbo Liu, professor of materials science and assistant dean of the WVU Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources, explained that it could be a lifesaving technology for the overwhelming US electric grid, where PCEC struggles to incorporate energy from uncertain developmental plants from their homes and energy from home plants as they switch between energy storage and electricity production. wave.

However, Liu said that the current PCEC design is “unstable in layer environments, weak links between layers, and unstable in the important task of conducting protons. In response, our group built a “conformal coated scaffold” by connecting electrolytes. Everything can move the structure. ”

Their prototypes worked over 5,000 hours at 600 degrees Celsius and 40% humidity, then decomposed molecules to generate electricity and hydrogen, resulting in the electrolysis process. According to Liu, it was only 1,833 hours that previous PCEC continued to run the same process continuously, in which case performance declined over time.

“The technology wasn’t ready for large-scale applications,” he said. “In comparison, our conformal coated scaffold design worked very well in both energy storage and energy production modes, so we also built a test version of the system used to accumulate hydrogen using CCS cells and use it in electrolysis reactions. It is a way to achieve a method of achieving a long 12-hour cycle, while switching back and forth between these modes smoothly and frequently, as well as maintaining long 12-hour cycles. Energy source.”

The work was led by Hanchen Tian, ​​a doctoral student and postdoctoral researcher at WVU at the time of his research, and Wei Lee, then an assistant professor of research at WVU. Additional WVU contributors include postdoctoral researcher Qing Yuan Li. Debangsu Bhattacharyya, Professor, GE Plastics Material Engineering. and Wenyuan Lee, assistant professor.

“PCEC uses a membrane called an electrolyte and uses a conductor called an oxygen electrode to move the layer into the layer,” says Tian. “However, steam has reached the electrolytes of current PCEC designs and has failed over time. Another problem is that the electrolyte and the electrodes have different expansions under heat.

The WVU team incorporated barium ions to help the coating retain water, facilitating the movement of protons. We also incorporated nickel ions to produce larger CCS cells that remain stable and flat. Additionally, PCEC runs on water vapor, so it can be driven with salt water or low quality water rather than purified water.

“It all suggests expanding to the industrial level,” Tian said. “We have shown that it is possible to create a CCS fuel cell on a large scale that is strong and stable under intense conditions.”