A new development in electric car battery technology could radically change how drivers interact with EVs over time.
The new research has lead researchers to develop new technology which could see cars be ‘recharged’ in the same time it takes to refuel a petrol or diesel cars.
Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Lowell developed a way to safely, cleanly and efficiently produce hydrogen gas to be used in next generation electric cars.
“Hydrogen burns completely clean – it produces no carbon dioxide, only water,” says Prof. David K. Ryan, who chairs the department and is the project’s principal investigator.
“And you don’t have to burn hydrogen to generate electricity.
“Hydrogen can be used in fuel cells, which combine hydrogen with oxygen from the air to produce electricity at up to 85 percent efficiency.”
The technique only uses only water, carbon dioxide and cobalt metal particles with surface nanostructures measuring billionths of a meter in size to produce hydrogen on demand at relatively low temperature and pressure.
The hydrogen used in the fuel cells which can be used to combine hydrogen and oxygen from the air to produce electricity at efficiency of up to 85 per cent, according to David K. Ryan who is the project’s principal investigator.
“Other investigators have used all kinds of methods to produce hydrogen, such as electrolysis, natural gas reforming and even metals such as zinc, iron and nickel with acids, but not catalytically with cobalt,” Ryan said in a media statement.
“The carbonate is involved in the reaction but it doesn’t change or get consumed; it just helps facilitate the conversion of the cobalt metal to cobalt oxide, and this conversion produces the hydrogen and carbon dioxide.”
The experimental setup consists of a stainless steel canister filled with cobalt. A carbonate solution made from a combination of carbon dioxide and water is pumped through the canister and warm up to 150 degrees and it also also compressed to about three atmospheres, or 45 pounds or square inch.
“Under these relatively low-temperature and modest-pressure conditions, we were able to produce hydrogen efficiently, to nearly 70%. Subsequent work has allowed us to produce hydrogen at greater than 95% purity,” Ryan said.
Ryan states that the hydrogen from the canister can go straight into the fuel cell where it mixes with oxygen from the atmosphere to produce electric and water.
Water is then looped back into the canister and mixes with he carbonate to form a catalytic solution.
The electricity produced by the fuel cell can be then used in the electric motors, rechargeable storage battery and headlights.
“This process doesn’t store any hydrogen gas, so it’s safe and poses no storage or transportation issues.
“Once you stop the flow of the carbonate solution or release pressure in the reaction chamber, the hydrogen production stops, so hydrogen is produced only as needed,” Ryan says.
Once the cobalt canister is used it is then converted into cobalt oxide, drivers can swap the canister out for another one every 300-400-miles.
The process is described to be similar to refilling your car like a petrol or diesel car.
“So instead of going to a gas station to get a fill-up, you can go to a ‘refueling’ station and get a new canister. You can also bring extras for long trips,” Ryan says.
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