A team of scientists fr om Novosibirsk State University and the Institute of Catalysis SB RAS developed a catalyst for a reaction that increases the mileage of electric vehicles.
Electric vehicles are becoming more important because they improve the environment in cities, run more quietly and have good dynamic characteristics. This is reflected in the increase of electric vehicle sales, the expansion of the range of models available and even in the emergence of new companies that produce only electric vehicles, such as Tesla. However, if the future of electric vehicles as urban transport looks very bright, then the possibility of using them for long trips, which is especially important in Russia, is still challenging because existing batteries have low capacity and are slow to charge. To solve this problem, special devices called «mileage boosters» or «range-extenders» are needed. These increase the range of the vehicle by 50-100% with minimum fuel consumption and maximum efficiency while operating on a traditional or renewable fuel (gasoline, diesel, bioethanol, etc.) and slowly recharging the battery.
The most promising energy generators for non-traditional internal combustion engines are low-temperature fuel cells with a proton-exchange membrane (PEMFC) because they have a high coefficient of performance (COP), they are quiet and do not weigh much.
Hydrogen is the fuel usually used for a Protone Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC). This is produced by large enterprises and stored in high-pressure cylinders. However, this solution is not effective for vehicles because it is heavy and there are safety issues. An alternative solution is to obtain hydrogen to supply the PEMFC directly on board the vehicle from any type of fuel, for example, gasoline. This avoids the problems associated with storing hydrogen, and relies on a well-developed infrastructure of gas stations.
Producing hydrogen on board a vehicle can be done with a multi-stage catalytic fuel processor. However, there is a problem in the final stage of deep purification from carbon monoxide (CO). A hydrogen mixture that contains about 1% CO, 10% H2O and 20% CO2 in addition to hydrogen is poison for a PEMFC. The solution proposed was to selectively hydrogenate all of the CO in the mixture to methane (CH4), while "not touching" the excess CO2. It was the team of scientists from Novosibirsk State University and the Institute of Catalysis SB RAS that came up with a catalyst for this reaction.
Dmitry Potemkin, Candidate of Chemical Sciences, Deputy Dean NSU Department of Natural Sciences and a member of SAE «Low-Dimensional Hybrid Materials», described their work:
To summarize, we synthesized a very active catalyst in both Ni / CeO2 reactions. We realized that the hydrogenation reactions of CO and CO2 flow on different parts of the catalyst surface. We selectively closed the centers on the surface of cerium oxide, wh ere CO2 is activated, by adding chlorine. Our latest articles discuss the choice of chlorine as a doping agent and how these additives work. The end result was a fusion of fundamental science with a very plausible practical application.
The results of the study were published in the prestigious foreign scientific journals Applied Catalysis B: Environmental and Energy Technology.
More details on the study, as well as other more recent scientific results, can be found at the resource Science Trends.
