Chuancheng Duan, a newly appointed associate professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering, has received a $360K U.S. Army Early Career Program (ECP) award, which will support his research on fuel cells.
Fuel cells are electrochemical devices that directly convert chemical energy from a fuel into electrical energy. Unlike batteries, a promising energy storage technology, fuel cells can continuously create electricity as long as both fuel and air are supplied.
Duan’s expertise is in fuel cells that use solid oxide materials, including both oxygen-ion and proton conductors, for their electrolytes. The high operating temperatures, typically above 500 ℃, of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) bring significant benefits, including high energy efficiency and fuel flexibility. SOFCs can operate on various fuels, including hydrogen, hydrocarbons, biogas, and liquid fuels. The high operating temperature enables internal reforming of hydrocarbon fuels, reducing the need for external fuel processing equipment.
Duan and his colleagues will use the award to collaborate with U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Army Research Laboratory and develop new spectroscopy techniques and hardware that can understand the internal reforming of hydrocarbon fuels.
The ECP Award funding from DEVCOM ARL is meant to incentivize early career university faculty to pursue fundamental research in areas that could have significant impact on Army operational capabilities and related technologies. Solid oxide fuel cells represent a quiet, robust, reliable, and portable power source, a critical need for a variety of applications.
“The efficiency, durability, and power density of direct-hydrocarbon SOFCs depends on the surface properties of the anode, but we don’t actually know very much about how the hydrocarbons in the fuel are being converted there,” says Duan. “There are a number of different theories about which properties are the most important, so we’re building the tools needed to probe and understand those theories.”
One theory for improving the longevity of these fuel cells, for example, is preventing “sulfur poisoning.” Impurities in the hydrocarbon fuel are thought to interfere with the anode, slowing down the internal reforming reactions, but the mechanisms and approaches to mitigate sulfur poisoning have not been fully understood. “Coking,” a process where solid carbon if formed, is also thought to be culprit in anode inefficiency.
Duan’s high-temperature spectroscopy platform will be used to analyze the hydrocarbon reaction as it is happening, observing the intermediate molecules and species on the anode. A better understanding of that process would enable engineers to design more active and durable anodes, increasing the overall efficiency and lifetime of the fuel cell.