Engineers at West Virginia University have developed a fuel cell that could change how power grids manage renewable energy like solar and wind. Their design is capable of both storing and producing electricity and even generating hydrogen from water.
This could provide a reliable solution for a U.S. electrical grid that is struggling to handle energy coming from many different sources at unpredictable times. The research, led by materials science professor Xingbo Liu, has been published in the journal Nature Energy.
Unlike earlier fuel cell designs, this one can operate continuously for long periods at high temperatures and in humid environments without losing performance. The team believes this advancement will brings us one step closer to building modern electrical grids that can adapt to renewable energy.
“Current PCEC designs are unstable in high-steam environments,” Liu explained. “They have weak connections between layers, and they perform poorly at the critical task of conducting protons.
In response, our group built a conformally coated scaffold design by connecting electrolytes. We then coated and sealed it with an electrocatalyst layer that’s stable in steam, absorbs water, and stays intact as temperatures rise and fall. Protons, heat, and electricity can all move through the structure.”
The fuel cell, called a protonic ceramic electrochemical cell or PCEC, was tested at 600 degrees Celsius and 40 percent humidity. It ran successfully for more than 5,000 hours, producing electricity and hydrogen through electrolysis. This is a big improvement over the previous record of 1,833 hours, where performance declined over time.
“That technology wasn’t ready for large-scale applications,” Liu said. “By comparison, our design performed so well in both energy storage and energy production modes that we also built a test system using CCS cells to store hydrogen and use it in electrolysis reactions.
Our system stayed stable while switching smoothly and frequently back and forth between those modes, even during long 12-hour cycles. This is how we achieve balance in a power grid that’s evolving to include intermittent, sustainable sources of energy.”
The project’s lead author is Hanchen Tian. He was a doctoral student and postdoctoral researcher at WVU during the study. He explained some of the challenges. “PCECs use membranes called electrolytes and conductors called oxygen electrodes to move protons through their layers,” he said.
“But steam has been getting to the electrolytes in current PCEC designs and causing them to fail over time. Another problem is that the electrolytes and electrodes expand differently under heat, so the connections between them weaken during use.”
To solve this, the WVU team added barium ions to the coating, helping it hold water and improving proton movement. They also used nickel ions to manufacture larger CCS cells that remained stable and flat under extreme conditions.
An added benefit of this system is that it runs on water vapor and can use saltwater or low-quality water instead of purified water. This makes it suitable for a wider range of environments and reduces the cost of scaling up.
“All that shows promise for scaling up to industrial levels,” Tian said. “We showed that it’s possible to make, on a large scale, CCS fuel cells that will stay strong and stable under intense conditions.”
Funding from the U.S. Department of Energy supported this research. It also received the DOE Hydrogen Production Technology Award. The next phase of the project will focus on working with the WVU Office of Innovation and Commercialization to prepare the design for commercial use.
Wei Li is a co-author and former research assistant professor at WVU. He said the team’s success opens the door for practical applications in the energy sector. The design could help balance power grids. This is as they incorporate energy from sources like rooftop solar panels, wind farms, hydropower dams, and even ocean wave systems.
This innovation provides a way to store excess energy when production is high and release it when demand increases. The ability to switch seamlessly between these modes is critical for maintaining grid stability.
Efforts to decarbonize the energy sector are growing. Experts say this technology could support grid systems. It could also support industries that require large amounts of hydrogen. The WVU team believes their work shows potential. Specifically, CCS fuel cells could play a key role in the clean energy revolution.
“This is how we prepare our infrastructure for the future,” Liu said. “We’re not just talking about a cleaner grid. We’re building one.”
