In Nano Catalysis & Materials Laboratory (NCML), research on Fuel cell, artificial photosynthesis, transparent conduction oxide material, and CZTSSe thin film solar cell are on-going. Among those areas, the Fuel Cell is the main research area in NCML.
In fuel cells, especially in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC), the electrochemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen produces water, converting the chemical energy into electrical energy.
Due to the high rate of energy conversion efficiency, high power density, small amount of emission, and low operating temperature, fuel cell is noted as one of the potential alternative energy sources for the future.
However, high price of platinum, which is used as cathode catalyst in PEMFC, hinders the commercialization of PEMFC.
Therefore, NCML is developing and investigating on non-Pt, especially carbon-based cathode catalyst, which can be applied to the real PEMFC system
Schematic picture of the PEMFC (left)and the picture of carbon-based cathode catalyst (right)