The National Science Foundation recently highlighted fuel cell catalyst research being conducted by an assistant professor in the University of Houston Cullen College of Engineering.
Selected from NSF’s funded grants related to chemical, bioengineering, environmental and transport systems, research by Peter Strasser and his team was among less than a dozen showcased on the foundation’s Web site as a “CBET Nugget.” The nuggets, according to the site, are used to publicize important contributions from CBET principal investigators within the foundation, in NSF’s annual budget requests and to the public.
Strasser’s fuel cell catalyst work was one of four highlighted in the environmental engineering and sustainability category. It offered insight into progress and community outreach efforts during the first year of the three-year study.
“The grant by NSF was geared toward a fundamental understanding of fuel cell catalysts for the next generation fuel cells with improved power and reduced cost of the catalysts,” said Strasser. “The goal is to understand how to make better fuel cells and also really understand why they are better.”
Strasser’s group combined platinum — the expensive metal most catalysts are made with to date — with copper and other less noble metals. From these, the researchers were able to create a catalyst with a platinum rich shell and copper rich core.
“The discovered class of electro catalytic materials has the potential to significantly reduce the cost of hydrogen fuel cell technology to levels where commercialization of fuel cells for automotive applications becomes economically viable,” Strasser said. “A broader use of all electric fuel cell powered vehicles would spur the development of hydrogen technologies, catalyze the transition to a broader use of hydrogen as an energy carrier in transportation, co-catalyze the use of stationary fuel cells as residential power source, and, as a consequence, would contribute to a reduction of the U.S. dependence on foreign oil imports.”
See his research highlighted on the National Science Foundation website.