Nanostructured Nickel Materials for Clean and Renewable Energy

With the rising concern regarding environmental pollution and greenhouse gases, the demand for clean and renewable energy sources has never been greater. Recent developments in fuel cell technology have been promising; however, these fuel cells may be unsuited for mass production due to the prohibitive cost of the platinum-group metal nanoparticles which are required as electrocatalysts. Thus, there is a pressing need for improvements to fuel cell technology such that they require much less platinum metal. This project proposes the development of nanostructured nickel materials for energy storage and generation technologies as an alternative to the platinum metal-dependent technologies. The lack of nanostructured nickel materials has severely limited the advancement of nickel-based electrochemical technology. We aim to design and synthesize novel nanostructured nickel materials which will find applications in energy and materials sciences. The discovery of these improved nickel electrocatalyst materials is projected to create a new generation of efficient alkaline fuel cells and water electrolysers.

Faculty Supervisor:

Gregory Jerkiewicz

Student:

Marco Gibaldi

Partner:

Discipline:

Chemistry

Sector:

University:

Queen's University

Program:

Globalink Research Award