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1. Charu
2. Sanjinthiny
3. Cadie
4. Samira

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We can talk about whether or not this source is academic tomorrow (Thursday 14/10).

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For hydrogen to make a greater impact in our energy systems, attention is required on the integration of new catalysts into fuel cells and their needs in emerging applications, such as heavy-duty transport.

If you knew where to look, it never really went away. Yet it's hard to escape the feeling that hydrogen is firmly back on the energy agenda. The EU's Hydrogen Strategy placed the gas at the heart of their energy and climate plans. Similarly, low-cost carbon-free hydrogen is a goal of the Biden administration's recent climate innovation initiatives. There is strong support for hydrogen in China and elsewhere, too.

One of hydrogen's strengths is its versatility. It can be combusted to generate heat or fed into fuel cells, along with oxygen, to produce electrical power directly. It can act as an energy storage medium via electrolysis of water using excess electricity. It can also play a role in hard-to-decarbonize sectors, such as heating and cement and steel making. Its high gravimetric energy density also makes it attractive in transportation.

In recent decades, light-duty passenger vehicles have been the main applications focus for hydrogen-powered transportation. Commercialized light-duty vehicles that run on hydrogen are powered by polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). At the core of a PEMFC sits a membrane electrode assembly (MEA): a polymer membrane sandwiched between two electrodes. At the anode, hydrogen is oxidized to protons, while at the cathode, oxygen is reduced.

PEMFCs typically use platinum-based catalysts to facilitate the oxygen reduction reaction. Given its high price, immense efforts have sought to minimize the amount of platinum used without sacrificing performance. Catalyst design strategies have included alloying platinum with cheaper metals and tailoring the nanostructure of catalytic particles.

Much of the progress in catalyst design has been achieved through half-cell measurements in aqueous solutions using the thin-film rotating disk electrode (RDE) technique. Countless catalysts with exceptional activities on a mass basis have been reported thus. However, while RDE measurements are valuable to screen catalysts and to develop structure-property relationships, they do not accurately replicate real fuel cell conditions. Highly performing catalysts as observed by RDE measurements have not necessarily translated into similarly impressive performance in a MEA.

In a Review in this issue, Li and colleagues explore the reasons for this disconnect and strategies to bridge the gap. A key factor is the large difference in operating current density between the two systems: MEAs often operate at >1 A cm ⁻², compared to ≤10 mA cm ⁻² for RDE measurements. Moving from RDE to MEA measurements changes the proton and oxygen transport mechanisms at play.

To address this, Li and colleagues suggest a stronger focus on the MEA's catalyst layer and on approaches to improve the local oxygen mass transport within it. The key constituents of a catalyst layer are the catalyst particles, a support and an ion-conducting polymer (ionomer). The interactions between these three components are particularly important to optimize. The researchers also suggest making more use of intermediate testing procedures, between RDE and MEA testing.

Enhancing PEMFC performance, while decreasing costs, would improve their viability for light-duty vehicles. Yet, this is unlikely to be enough on its own - a lack of refuelling infrastructure has also hampered widespread adoption, while battery electric vehicles (BEVs) have made exceptional headway.

The danger for hydrogen is that a move to BEVs is well underway: hydrogen-fuelled approaches could be shut out of the light-duty vehicle market. BEVs appear to have greater manufacturer buy-in and they - and their charging infrastructure - are increasingly common on roads. Meanwhile, fuel cell vehicles (FCVs) remain more rare, despite their strengths of greater driving range and rapid refuelling.

Yet there is increasing interest in hydrogen's role in decarbonizing heavy-duty and long-haul transportation; for example, heavy goods vehicles, buses, rail, marine and aviation. Compared to Li-ion batteries, fuel cell systems scale more attractively to meet the high energy and power demands of heavy-duty vehicles (HDVs): increasing the size of fuel cell stacks and hydrogen tanks results in a lower weight penalty than is suffered using batteries. Moreover, HDVs typically have better defined transit routes than, say, passenger vehicles, meaning that refuelling can be more easily planned.

Kusoglu and colleagues pick up this subject in their Review. They consider the emerging markets for FCVs in the context of hydrogen roadmaps from around the globe. They highlight that while HDV applications present substantive opportunities for fuel cells, they also introduce distinct demands on the technology.

In particular, moving to HDVs shifts the balance from capital to operating costs, making extremely low platinum loadings at the electrodes less critical. On the other hand, higher cell voltages will be needed to achieve optimal efficiency and greater driving distances will necessitate longer fuel cell lifetimes. Although learning from light-duty vehicles can inform the development of HDV fuel cells, research needs to address the different efficiency and durability requirements, which impose critical system and materials challenges.

Kusoglu and colleagues comment that early electric HDVs may be battery powered in part due to recharging infrastructure already being in place. However, with time, they believe fuel cell HDVs may emerge due to their inherent advantages, including the separation of energy storage and power output. Yet it need not necessarily be a case of either/or: batteries and fuel cells can be considered as complementary approaches. The recent US Department of Energy call to decarbonize the trucking sector - SuperTruck 3 - specifically calls out hybrid strategies, such as batteries plus fuel cell range extenders, as a point of focus.

Increased commitments to decarbonize transport and heating provide renewed hope for the gas to play a pivotal role in the near future. A key part of its success will be fuel cells that are ever cheaper and more highly performing. To achieve that, successful integration of catalysts into fuel cells is crucial, as is designing devices holistically to meet the demands of specific applications.

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Moving forward with fuel cells - Nature Energy

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For hydrogen to make a greater impact in our energy systems, attention is required on the integration of new catalysts into fuel cells and their needs in emerging applications, such as heavy-duty transport. If you knew where to look, it never really went away.

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A fuel cell is a device that generates electricity through an electrochemical reaction, not combustion. In a fuel cell, hydrogen and oxygen are combined to generate electricity, heat, and water. Fuel cells are used today in a range of applications, from providing power to homes and businesses, keeping critical facilities like hospitals, grocery stores, and data centers up and running, and moving a variety of vehicles including cars, buses, trucks, forklifts, trains, and more.

Fuel cell systems are a clean, efficient, reliable, and quiet source of power. Fuel cells do not need to be periodically recharged like batteries, but instead continue to produce electricity as long as a fuel source is provided.

A fuel cell is composed of an anode, cathode, and an electrolyte membrane. A typical fuel cell works by passing hydrogen through the anode of a fuel cell and oxygen through the cathode. At the anode site, a catalyst splits the hydrogen molecules into electrons and protons. The protons pass through the porous electrolyte membrane, while the electrons are forced through a circuit, generating an electric current and excess heat. At the cathode, the protons, electrons, and oxygen combine to produce water molecules. As there are no moving parts, fuel cells operate silently and with extremely high reliability.

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Fuel Cell Basics - Fuel Cell & Hydrogen Energy Association

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A fuel cell is a device that generates electricity through an electrochemical reaction, not combustion. In a fuel cell, hydrogen and oxygen are combined to generate electricity, heat, and water.

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Introduction and historical overview - Charu

Method - Sanjinthiny

Method - Samira

Method and conclusion - Cadie

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By Roger Harrabin
BBC environment analyst

A tiny spark in the UK's hydrogen revolution has been lit - at a university campus near Stoke-on-Trent.

Hydrogen fuel is a relatively green alternative to alternatives that produce greenhouse gases.

The natural gas supply at Keele University is being blended with 20% hydrogen in a trial that's of national significance.

Adding the hydrogen will reduce the amount of CO2 that's being produced through heating and cooking.

Critics fear hydrogen will prove too expensive for mass usage, but supporters of the technology have high hopes.

Using natural gas for heating generates about a third of the UK emissions that are driving global warming.

But the only product of burning hydrogen is water.

How does it work?

As a fuel, hydrogen functions in much the same way as natural gas. So staff in the university canteen say cooking on the 20% hydrogen blend has made no difference to their cooking regime.

The project - known as HyDeploy - is the UK's first live trial of hydrogen in a modern gas network. Keele was chosen because it has a private gas system.

Its hydrogen is produced in an electrolyser - a device that splits water (H2O) into its constituents: hydrogen and oxygen. The machine is located in a glossy green shipping container in the corner of the university's sports field.

The gas distribution firm Cadent, which is leading the project, says that if a 20% blend were to be rolled out across Britain, it would reduce emissions of CO2 by six million tonnes - equivalent to taking 2.5 million cars off the road.

The hydrogen could be generated pollution-free by using surplus wind power at night to split water molecules using electrolysis.

Why not add more than 20% hydrogen?

The 20% proportion was chosen because it's an optimal blend that won't affect gas pipes and appliances.

Currently, the UK has only small supplies of hydrogen, but the firm says increasing production would offer a quick way of cutting emissions from heating.

Consultant engineer Ed Syson told BBC News: "The prize is a large one. If we were to roll this system out across the UK it would be on broadly the same scale as offshore wind is today. So it's a significant technology.

"What's more, it makes those carbon savings without having customers change their behaviour in any way."

How long before we see 100% hydrogen boilers?

Some boiler manufacturers are already producing prototype boilers that use 100% hydrogen.

Worcester Bosch, for instance, has a "hydrogen-ready" design. It can run on natural gas, but it's capable of converting to 100% hydrogen following a one-hour visit by an engineer.

The firm wants the government to stipulate that by 2025, all new boilers on sale should be hydrogen-ready.

It says this would allow households to switch painlessly to clean boilers when existing boilers reach the end of their lives. The extra cost of the hydrogen-ready boiler would be about £50, it says.

How clean is hydrogen?

Hydrogen can be produced from water through electrolysis, or from natural gas.

Electrolysis from surplus renewable energy is unambiguously beneficial for the environment - but it's not very efficient.

For the foreseeable future it may be cheaper to produce hydrogen from natural gas. However, CO2 is released in the industrial process used to generate hydrogen.

The resulting CO2 would need to be captured and stored underground with carbon capture and storage (CCS) - a technology not yet established at scale.

Is the hydrogen revolution inevitable?

About 85% of homes have gas central heating, and some experts believe it will prove more cost-effective to switch boilers to hydrogen, rather than to install heat pumps which would require the UK's aging housing stock to be highly insulated.

A recent study for the government raised the possibility that homes could be warmed by a hybrid system using electric heat pumps, then topping up with hydrogen on cold days.

Major drawbacks to hydrogen are cost and availability. The costs are much higher than for natural gas, although the differential will surely shrink as carbon taxes raise the price of burning gas to combat climate change over coming decades.

The environmental think tank E3G said in a statement: "Going for hydrogen entails massive infrastructure expenditure. In many cases the additional costs make it look unattractive compared with alternatives (like renewables).

Richard Black from the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) told BBC News: "We will and should have hydrogen in the mix of energy options, but it's not a wonder solution to everything, which you sometimes get the impression from the rhetoric. There is hope - but too much hype."

Meanwhile, in the corner of a sports field in Keele, the container of hope has just supplied enough hydrogen to cook 20% of Christmas dinners.

Follow Roger on Twitter.

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By Roger Harrabin BBC environment analyst A tiny spark in the UK's hydrogen revolution has been lit - at a university campus near Stoke-on-Trent. Hydrogen fuel is a relatively green alternative to alternatives that produce greenhouse gases. The natural gas supply at Keele University is being blended with 20% hydrogen in a trial that's of national significance.

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1. 150 words each (600 words total)

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When are you going to meet again?  After your meeting with me tomorrow?
- We met on Friday

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- Charulata Chowdhury
Introduction and Historical Overview Draft

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conclusion to be written once all mathods are uploaded by everyone.

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Are you going to add all the draft texts to a poster so that we can see how it looks?

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Are you going to add all the draft texts to a poster so that we can see how it looks?

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You also need to add the reference list.

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Link if you can't edit it when you download it here:
https://qmulprod-my.sharepoint.com/:p:/g/personal/bt21228_qmul_ac_uk/ERYfro0WkGpOsnecthgWTaoBREbdS1AtxNltiZVEr0M3ew?e=bcxOfe