RESEARCH PROJECTS
Electrocatalytic Ammonia Production Using Nitride Conducting Electrolytes:
Ammonia is a chemical that has very high production capacities and used in many different industries. Commercially, ammonia is produced by Haber-Bosch process, which is a thermodynamically limited process and requires high temperatures and pressures. Because of these problems, researchers focus on the development of new ammonia production technologies. Electrocatalytic membrane reactors provide a promising alternative by eliminating the thermodynamic limitation and need for high operating pressures. Current research on electrocatalytıcammonıa
electrocatalytic ammonia production in the literature focuses mainly on oxide and proton conducting electrolytes. Both of these methods have many advantages with respect to Haber-Bosch process. On the other hand, for both methods ammonia production takes place at the cathode where nitrogen is fed and due to strong N-N triple bonds, hydrogen ions usually recombine to produce H2without reacting with nitrogen, leading low ammonia production efficiencies. This project proposes the use of nitride conducting electrolytes for ammonia production. With these electrolytes nitrogen fed to the cathode is ionized and transferred to the anode through the electrolyte where they react with hydrogen to produce ammonia. This type of electrolytes separate the two reactions; ionization of nitrogen and ammonia production reaction and has high potential to improve selectivity and efficiency. Both a nitride conducting electrolytes and an electrocatalytic ammonia production catalysts are being developed as a part of this project.
Alternative Interconnector Materials and Coatings for Solid Oxide Fuel Cells:
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Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) with their high efficiency, fuel flexibility, and cogeneration are considered promising clean energy sources. On the other hand, the commercialization of solid oxide fuel cells requires production costs to be lowered. One of the contributions to high costs of SOFC systems is the requirement of special alloys to be used as interconnector materials. Because of high operating temperatures (700 - 1000 °C) of SOFCs, interconnectors that are used for electrical connection between the cells are produced from expensive alloys that can withstand the corrosion of deformation at these conditions. Other problems with these alloys include high electrical resistance and high production costs due to the high hardness and machinability of these materials. This project aims to coat more economic and machinable alloy with corrosion-resistant coatings and reduce both material and production costs of SOFC interconnectors as well as reducing ohmic resistance losses.