International Conference on Battery and Fuel Cell Technology December 08-09, 2016 Dubai, UAE

Rakesh Verma is currently pursuing his PhD from IIT Madras, Department of Chemistry. He is working on Li and Na-ion battery applications. He has published 2 papers in peer-reviewed journals and presented his work in 3 international and 2 national conferences.

Sodium ion batteries (SIBs) are explored as low cost alternative to the lithium ion batteries (LIBs) in recent times, because of limited geographical localization of lithium, abundant sodium reserve and similar chemistry between sodium and lithium. While much of the efforts are focused on the negative electrode materials, studies on positive electrode materials are few and far between. The main issues encountered with anode materials are a) low capacity in case of insertion type compounds, b) large volume changes in case of both insertion as well as alloying reactions, c) poor cycling performance of conversion type materials and d) sodium plating at low voltages. In the literature, sodium storage in the conversion reaction based systems involving binary and ternary oxides were explored as alternative to the insertion and alloying based compounds. In the present study, Na2Mo2O7 was synthesized by solid state reaction route and explored as possible anode material for sodium ion battery, for the first time. The electrochemical reaction with sodium involves an initial insertion of 0.33 Na/fu into the lattice followed by conversion reaction. The detailed synthesis and electrochemical mechanism will be discussed in the presentation.

Dilek Yalcin has two science graduates one in Chemistry and the other in Chemical Engineering, respectively from Ankara University, Ankara and Osmangazi University, Eskisehir. She is pursuing her Master’s education in Electrochemical Energy Storage Technology with Prof. Dr. Yucel Sahin whose one of research interests is also on vanadium redox flow batteries at Yıldız Technical University, Istanbul. She has chosen the membrane material research for all-vanadium redox flow batteries and completed her experimental work under the supervision of Dr.- Ing. Burak Caglar whose one of expertises is on redox flow batteries at Fraunhofer, ICT, Institute For Chemical Technology, Germany. After having her Master of Science degree, she likes to study on membrane material research and development for electrochemical energy storage technology for her PhD.

Statement of the Problem: The porous membranes are well known with their cost advantage. However, they suffer from the cross-over of redox active species despite their cost advantages. The aim of this study was to develop the permeability decrease of Amer-Sil FF60 porous membrane via surface modification through spraying. Methodology: FAP® 450 (FuMA-Tech, Germany), Nafion® 117 (DuPont, the USA) and Amer-Sil FF60 porous membrane (Amer-Sil, Luxembourg) were employed in this study. Porous membrane’s one face was modified with two different proportions of Nafion® (5, 7%, wt) dispersion such as (0.5:1) and (1:1). Spraying technique was utilized as modification method. The membranes were characterized in terms of vanadium ion permeability, ionic conductivity, water uptake, cell tests. Besides, the Nafion ® dispersion stability on the membrane surface after cell tests was utilized. Findings: The diffusion of V4+ ions could be declined with upon the addition of Nafion ® (5.7%, wt). With the addition of Nafion® (5.7%, wt) dispersion, both proton conductivity and swelling degrees were decreased owing to the hydrophobic group of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE). It was observed that the coloumbic, energy efficiencies and discharge power densities of modified porous membranes were improved better compared to the unmodified ones. Conclusion & Significance: It was denoted that the modified porous membrane’s performances could be accomplished circa 10-15% compared to the unmodified porous membrane. It might be claimed that the modification of Amer-Sil FF60 may be considerable when the feasibility of all membranes were evaluated. According to the Nafion® (5.7%, wt) stability test, it was reported that the Nafion® (5.7%, wt) dispersion could not be stayed on the surface of the membrane as it was interacted via highly acidic vanadium electrolyte medium.

Lindert van Biert is a shared PhD candidate at the Process & Energy Department and the Maritime & Transport Technology Department at the faculty of Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering, Delft University of Technology. His research activities are focused on the maritime application of fuel cell systems. His work is part of the Dutch National GasDrive project, which studies the concept of an LNG fueled SOFC/reciprocating engine hybrid for ships, combined with an underwater exhaust and novel drag reducing hull nano laminates.

Modern vessels use an increasing amount of electricity, varying from small auxiliaries up to complete electrical propulsion systems. Although conventional diesel generator sets have proven to be a reliable and cost effective technology, there are important concerns about the emission of hazardous compounds, greenhouse gases, noise and vibrations. These not only affect the environment, but also the comfort and quality of life on-board. This is especially relevant for pleasure boats, such as cruise vessels and luxury yachts. Batteries can be used to supply electricity in a clean, silent and emission-free way, but only for a limited time span. Fuel cell systems, on the other hand, can provide electricity with a similar degree of comfort, while they can use more practical logistic fuels. Many choices can be made with regard to the type of fuel cell system and logistic fuel. The main characteristics of different fuel cell systems and logistic fuels are presented, as well as a brief analysis of the applicability of several combinations on ships. The results reveal that ship designers may face several trade-offs. The polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell, often with pure hydrogen fueling, exhibits a relatively low investment cost, high specific power and good load following capabilities, while other fuel cell types, such as the solid oxide fuel cell, exhibit a higher electrical efficiency and greater fuel flexibility due to their elevated operation temperature. In addition, it is shown that low volumetric density of hydrogen results in storage volumes up to 5 times larger compared to more energy dense alternatives, such as liquefied natural gas, methanol or diesel. The adoption of maritime fuel cell systems is expected to result in a step change in comfort on-board, since the fuel cell tandem has near-zero hazardous emissions, low greenhouse gas emissions and produces almost no noise and vibrations.

P V Aravind is an Associate Professor at Delft University of Technology. He teaches courses on Thermodynamics of Energy Conversion and Fuel Cell Systems at Delft. He also teaches at TU Munich in Germany and contributes to a course at KU Leuven in Belgium. He is involved in several national, European and international energy related research projects focusing on fuel cell systems. Currently, he supervises a team of nine PhD students, two Postdoctoral Researchers and several MSc students. Many of his team members are involved in SOFC system development with a special focus on Gasifier-SOFC systems.

Today’s power plants produce electric power using the chemical energy contained in fuels. Many of these power plants are used to meet the base load power requirements. In the future, if and when intermittent renewable energy sources are widely used for power production, fuel fed power plants might have to be used to produce power only when electricity from renewable systems is not available. Plant capacity utilization will be minimal and this might increase the cost of electricity produced. Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFCs) are considered for efficient power production using a wide array of fuels. It has also been reported by many that SOFCs can be reversed to produce fuels. When H2O and CO2 mixtures are electrolyzed, syngas is produced and with appropriate downstream process steps, different fuels can be produced. This way, reversible SOFCs can be used for both grid balancing and for energy storage. The plant can be used for longer durations making them economically attractive. This paper will present recent trends in the development of reversible SOFC systems and their emerging applications. Additionally, a brief comparison with competing options for grid balancing and energy storage will be presented.

Yulia G Mateyshina has her own experience in the synthesis and study of electrochemical properties, electrode materials for lithium-ion batteries and supercapacitors. She has worked on the study of the electrode materials and solid electrolytes for medium electrochemical devices. She has succeeded in creating an all solid-state supercapacitor.

Electrochemical double-layer capacitors have tremendous potential as high-energy and high-power sources for using in the low weight hybrid systems. Commercial applications for such devices include uninterruptible power applications, telecommunications, and public transportation. Electrochemical double layer capacitors, commonly called “supercapacitors”, are intermediate systems that bridge the power/energy gap between traditional dielectric capacitors (high power) and batteries (high energy). Carbon-based supercapacitors have been largely investigated because of their low-cost, high cycle life and high capacitance. New microporous and mesoporous carbon electrode materials have been synthesized by template synthesis followed by carbonization and activation derived from phenol-formaldehyde or resorcin-formaldehyde resins, in which potassium hydroxide acts as both the catalyst of polymerization and the chemical activation reagent. The obtained carbons were characterized by a specific surface area of 1000-2000 m2/g. The aim of the work was to investigate the relationship between the specific capacitance and specific surface area in a series of materials prepared from different organic precursors. The electrochemical characteristics of electrode materials were investigated in a symmetrical two-electrode cell using an impedance spectroscopy, voltammetry in both potentiodynamic and galvanostatic modes. It was shown that the value of C for the materials under study strongly depended on the organic precursor and the type of electrolyte. The capacity diminishes at transition from organic to aqueous electrolytes and decreases in a series: 1M LiClO4 in acetonitrile > 1M H2SO4 > 6M KOH > 1M Li2SO4.

Ran Bi is a PhD student in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Under the supervision of Professor Kam Chuen Yung, his research interests mainly focus on the design, synthesis and applications of graphene-based materials for supercapacitors and lithium ion batteries.

Statement of the Problem: Supercapacitors are promising energy storage devices due to their ability to fulfill the energy and the power gap between conventional capacitors and batteries, though they deliver an unsatisfactory energy density when compared with batteries. Nowadays, many efforts have been made to improve the performance of supercapacitors by developing novel electrode materials. Graphene has been considered as a candidate electrode material for supercapacitors because of its fascinating physico-chemical properties. It can be produced by the reduction of graphene oxide (GO). Among various methods of preparing reduced graphene oxide (rGO) including chemical reduction, thermal reduction and multi-step reduction, the electrochemical reduction of GO is a green and easy synthetic route for preparing rGO. However, as an electrode material for supercapacitors, the electrochemically reduced graphene oxide (ERGO) has shown an unsatisfactory capacitive performance because the reduction process is uncontrollable. The purpose of this study is to explore the effect of the reduction degree of ERGO on its electrochemical performance in aqueous electrolyte for supercapacitors’ application. Methodology & Theoretical Orientation: The electrochemical reduction of GO film was performed with cyclic voltammetry (CV) method. A standard three-electrode cell was employed within the potential window from -1.2 to 0 V (vs. Saturated Calomel Electrode) in 1 M Li2SO4 aqueous solution (pH = 7, 9 and 11). The capacitive properties of the ERGO were characterized with CV and constant current charging-discharging in 1 M Li2SO4. Findings: As a result of appropriate electrochemical reduction cycles, a satisfactory value of the specific capacitance of ERGO can be obtained. Interestingly, this value decreases dramatically with the increasing reduction cycles imposed on the GO film. This decrease may be due to the restack and structural defects of the ERGO sheets, which in turn affect the surface wettability and the conductivity of ERGO in the electrolyte. We have also tested the effects 1M Li2SO4 with different pH values on reduction efficiency of ERGO, which showed no significant correlation in between. Conclusion & Significance: This study introduced a green and fast electrochemical synthesis method in ERGO preparation. The reduction degree of ERGO can be controlled by the number of repetitive reduction cycle. With optimal number of reduction cycles of ERGO in aqueous electrolyte, it exhibits the highest specific capacitance and cycling stability. When the cycle number of reduction further increases, the performance of ERGO suffers a decline. Therefore, the electrochemical performance of the ERGO in the aqueous electrolyte may be largely affected by the reduction degree of ERGO during the electrochemical reduction process.

Saddam Husain Dhobi is a student of B.Sc. in Physics at Tribhuvan University, Nepal. Along with this, he writes B.Sc. Refresher books, publishes research papers in International Science Journal, works as a researcher on Robotic Association of Nepal (RAN) and Bosc Foundation Pvt. He participated in “Young Scientist Summit 2016”, a national conference held from 4 June to 5, 2016.

The main objective of this paper is to save money, environment, control global warming, and store more energy in small area with very little weight and required thinness, which makes it comfortable to carry on by using Cyanobacteria in battery. Cyanobacteria is a special type of bacteria that produces different types of extracellular glucoses and oxygen with the help of little sunlight, water and carbon dioxide and can survive in fresh water, marine and in the land as well. Since Carbon dioxide is a major gas, which causes global, warming. This kind of battery is more effective to reduce Carbondioxide and stop global warming with the help of Cynobacteria's than plant because they growth faster in very small interval time which helps to produce more oxygen with glucose by using Carbon dioxide. Cyanobacteria are both useful for living organism, battery, energy and so on. The glucose produce by cynobacteria help to produce sugar power fuel cells which have more storage capacity more than 10 time lithium battery. Therefore, we can use the different types of glucose for battery produced by cynobacteria. Again glucose is treated with enzyme to produce energy. This produced energy is stored in sugar fuel cell. This store energy can be used in any place easily if needed. In this way, we can produce energy from the Cyanobacteria and use it in battery for different benefits. In addition, due to the mass, size and easy cultivation, they are better to maintain the size of battery. Hence, we can use Cyanobacteria for the battery having suitable size, high storing capacity, helping environment, portability and so on.