Power and Energy Commons^™

Effects Of So2 In Air On Performance Of Direct Methanol Fuel Cell, Bin Qin, Fen-Ning Jing, Xue-Jing Sun, Gong-Quan Sun, Hai Sun

Journal of Electrochemistry

Direct methanol fuel cells (DMFC) generally use oxygen as an oxidant. Contaminants such as sulfides and nitrides in the air can affect the performance of the DMFC. In this work, the effects of SO₂ on the performance of DMFC were investigated and the mechanism of poisoning was analyzed, by means of constant current discharge curve, polarization performance curve, cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). In the CV scan, the permeated methanol was oxidized at a low potential to eliminate its effect on the SO₂ poisoning behavior test. The results showed that the SO₂ poisoning resulted …

Fe-N Doped Hollow Carbon Nanospheres Linked By Carbon Nanotubes For Oxygen Reduction Reaction, Ya-Lin Zhang, Chi Chen, Liang-Liang Zou, Zhi-Qing Zou, Hui Yang

Journal of Electrochemistry

The development of non-precious metal catalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is essential for large-scale application of proton exchange membrane fuel cells. Herein, we present the in situ formed Fe-N doped hollow carbon nanospheres linked by carbon nanotubes composite, synthesized by using ZIF-8 as sacrificed template to form polydopamine (PDA) hollow nanospheres, followed by complexing with FeCl₃, high temperature heat-treatment and NH₃-etching. ZIF-8 was gradually decomposed simultaneously with PDA coating due to the loss of Zn²⁺ grabbed by PDA. NH3 etching resulted in the improved surface area, while the reducibility of NH₃ resulted in …

Acid Treated Carbon As Anodic Electrocatalysts Toward Direct Ascorbic Acid Alkaline Membrane Fuel Cells, He-Mu Chen, Chen-Xi Qiu, Yuan-Yuan Cong, Hui-Yuan Liu, Zi-Hui Zhai, Yu-Jiang Song

Journal of Electrochemistry

In order to improve the hydrophilicity and electrocatalytic activity, commercial carbon black (BP 2000) was subjected to acid treatment to obtain acid-treated carbon (ATC). The generation of rich oxygen-containing groups on the surface of the ATC was proved by X-ray photoelectron spectra (XPS), Fourier transform-infra red spectra (FTIR), thermogravimetric analysis (TG) and contact angle measurement. UV-vis spectra were firstly recorded to calculate activation energy (Ea) of ascorbic acid (AA) chemical oxidation in alkaline conditions by oxygen in air and the Ea value was determined to be 37.1 kJ·mol^-1. Additionally, electrochemical impedance spectra (EIS) were used to evaluate unprecedented …

Pd/C Catalysts For Co2 Electroreduction To Co:Pd Loading Effect, Dun-Feng Gao, Cheng-Cheng Yan, Guo-Xiong Wang, Xin-He Bao

Journal of Electrochemistry

Nanostructured heterogeneous catalysts have been widely used in the electrochemical carbon dioxide (CO₂) reduction reaction (CO₂RR), which can simultaneously achieve the electrocatalytic conversion of CO₂ to fuels and the storage of renewable energy sources. Carbon supported palladium nanoparticles (Pd/C) catalysts have been previously reported to show excellent CO₂RR performance. However, the crucial role of the metal loading in supported electrocatalysts has been rarely reported. In this work, we study the Pd loading effect on the structure of Pd/C catalysts as well as their activity and selectivity of CO₂RR to CO. The …

Recent Progress In Pt-Based Catalysts For Oxygen Reduction Reaction, Jing Li, Xin Feng, Zi-Dong Wei

Journal of Electrochemistry

One major challenge for a large-scale commercialization of the proton-exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) technologies that enable a shift to ‘zero-emission’ personal transportation, is the expensive and unstable Pt catalysts, which are mainly used to catalyze the sluggish kinetics of the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) occurred on the air electrode of PEMFCs. Many research works have targets to improve the stability of Pt-based catalysts and to construct Pt/transitional metal alloys with low Pt loading amount. Herein, we provide a minireview for the Pt-based ORR catalysts based on our recent work, which covers a brief background introduction, the stability improvement of …

Facile Synthesis Of Pt-Cu Alloy Nanodendrites As High-Performance Electrocatalysts For Oxygen Reduction Reaction, Liu-Xuan Luo, Guang-Hua Wei, Shui-Yun Shen, Feng-Juan Zhu, Chang-Chun Ke, Xiao-Hui Yan, Jun-Liang Zhang

Journal of Electrochemistry

Structures and compositions have significant effects on the catalytic properties of nanomaterials. Herein, a facile etching-based method was employed to synthesize Pt-Cu nanodendrites (NDs) with uniform and homogeneous alloy structures for enhancing oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). The formation of dendritic morphology was ascribed to the etching effect caused by the oxidative etchants of the Br^-/O₂ pair. The atomic ratio of Pt/Cu in Pt-Cu NDs could be easily tuned by altering the ratio of the Pt/Cu precursors, without deteriorating the dendritic morphology. The most active carbon-supported Pt₁Cu₁ NDs (Pt₁Cu₁ NDs/C) exhibited the …

2018 Fall Engr333 Project Final Report (Section A), 2018 Fall Engr333 Section A

ENGR 333

Calvin College currently spends 2.35 million dollars on energy every year. Physical Plant is under pressure to reduce the amount of energy that Calvin purchases from the electrical grid since the college is facing many budget constraints. In addition, President Le Roy signed the President’s Carbon Commitment to achieve carbon neutrality by 2057. With this need to save money on energy and reduce the college’s carbon footprint, the objective of this project was to determine the largest possible reduction in Calvin’s annual energy costs given a five-million-dollar investment in renewable energy.

2018 Fall Engr333 Project Final Report (Section B), Alexander Cooper, Katie Diekema, Grace Fasipe, Daniella Sugijanto, Alec Dejonge, Timothy Dykhuis, Breanna Kooiman, Samuel Olson, Brennan Boice, Tyler Gustman, Daniel Norton, Christopher Vanwhye, Robert Capozzoli, Jared Minderhoud, Clark Richeson, Nathan Schuyten

ENGR 333

What is the largest possible reduction in Calvin College’s annual energy costs from a $5M initial investment in renewable energy? Renewable energy systems are essential for Calvin College to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and achieve carbon neutrality to meet the Carbon Commitment that President Le Roy signed in December 2017. Also, a significant cost reduction could be a positive result of transitioning to renewable energy sources such as geothermal, wind, solar, and biomass. Four renewable energy sources were studied throughout the semester to determine a feasible renewable energy plan for Calvin with a $5M investment.

Optimal Placement Of Distributed Energy Storage Systems In Distribution Networks Using Artificial Bee Colony Algorithm, Choton K. Das, Octavian Bass, Ganesh Kothapalli, Thair S. Mahmoud, Daryoush Habibi

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

The deployment of utility-scale energy storage systems (ESSs) can be a significant avenue for improving the performance of distribution networks. An optimally placed ESS can reduce power losses and line loading, mitigate peak network demand, improve voltage profile, and in some cases contribute to the network fault level diagnosis. This paper proposes a strategy for optimal placement of distributed ESSs in distribution networks to minimize voltage deviation, line loading, and power losses. The optimal placement of distributed ESSs is investigated in a medium voltage IEEE-33 bus distribution system, which is influenced by a high penetration of renewable (solar and wind) …

2018 Fall Engr333 Poster, Alexander Cooper, Katie Diekema, Grace Fasipe, Daniella Sugijanto, Alec Dejonge, Timothy Dykhuis, Breanna Kooiman, Samuel Olson, Brennan Boice, Tyler Gustman, Daniel Norton, Christopher Vanwhye, Robert Capozzoli, Jared Minderhoud, Clark Richeson, Nathan Schuyten, 2018 Fall Engr333 Section A

ENGR 333

• $158k initial investment in Geothermal systems for various Calvin-owned residential buildings
• $3.34M initial investment in solar panels for Calvin’s rooftops
• The overall savings would be $233,850 per year
• Emissions would be reduced by 864 tons of CO2 emissions per year
• The recommended investment would be fully paid back in 11-15 years

2018 Fall Engr333 Seminar Presentation, Rachel Evans, Alex Gross, Daniella Sugijanto, Jake Shaarda

ENGR 333

File for student presentation, given by students in the Fall 2018 class of ENGR333.

Automatic Performance Optimization On Heterogeneous Computer Systems Using Manycore Coprocessors, Chenggang Lai

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Emerging computer architectures and advanced computing technologies, such as Intel’s Many Integrated Core (MIC) Architecture and graphics processing units (GPU), provide a promising solution to employ parallelism for achieving high performance, scalability and low power consumption. As a result, accelerators have become a crucial part in developing supercomputers. Accelerators usually equip with different types of cores and memory. It will compel application developers to reach challenging performance goals. The added complexity has led to the development of task-based runtime systems, which allow complex computations to be expressed as task graphs, and rely on scheduling algorithms to perform load balancing between …

Recent Process In Transition-Metal-Oxide Based Catalysts For Oxygen Reduction Reaction, Yao Wang, Zi-Dong Wei

Journal of Electrochemistry

Transition metal oxides (TMOs) based catalysts have become the most promising catalysts to be employed in anion exchange membrane fuel cell for the sluggish oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). However, their ORR activity is still far from that of the Pt-based catalysts. Therefore, it is important to develop high performance TMO based catalysts. Electrical conductivity and intrinsic activity have been regarded as the two keys to affect the ORR activity of the TMOs based catalysts. In this review, we focused on the recent progresses in the fundamental viewpoints on the electrical conductivity and intrinsic activity of the TMOs based ORR catalysts. …

Recent Advances In Continuous Models Of Electrochemical Supercapacitors, Hao-Tian Lu, Jing-Hong Zhou, Guang-Hua Ye, Xing-Gui Zhou

Journal of Electrochemistry

Electrochemical capacitors (supercapacitors) have been developed as a new type of energy storage device with high energy and power densities, which have the advantages of both fast charging-discharging as traditional capacitors and high energy density as batteries. Notable improvements in their electrochemical performance have been achieved in recent years owing to the recent advances in understanding of charge storage mechanisms and the development of advanced nanostructured materials. Recently, modeling and simulation of these supercapacitors has been applied as a useful approach to better understand the working mechanisms of the supercapacitors by describing the concentrations and electric fields inside the capacitors. …

Recent Advances In Non-Noble Metal Nanomaterials For Oxygen Evolution Electrocatalysis, Dan-Dan Zhao, Nan Zhang, Ling-Zheng Bu, Qi Shao, Xiao-Qing Huang

Journal of Electrochemistry

Hydrogen is a kind of renewable energies with the merits of environmentally friendly, abundance and high weight energy density, which can replace the fossil energy. The electrolysis of water is regarded as the most effective way to generate hydrogen. Owing to the sluggish kinetics and large overpotential of the anode oxygen evolution reaction (OER), the efficiency of the cathode hydrogen evolution reaction is greatly limited. Therefore, it is highly desirable to explore efficient, stable and low cost electrocatalysts to reduce the overpotential of OER and improve the efficiency of hydrogen evolution. Based on the natural characteristics of non-noble metal catalysts …

Recent Progress In Organic Redox Flow Batteries, Li-Xing Xia, Hao Liu, Lin Liu, Zhan-Ao Tan

Journal of Electrochemistry

Redox flow batteries (RFBs) are promising candidate for balancing instability of grids caused by integration of intermittent renewable energies such as solar energy and wind energy. Along with wide deployments in solar energy and wind energy due to abundance and declining installation cost, it can be predicted that RFBs will enter a period of rapid development. Basically,RFBs are electrochemical energy storage devices that decouple energy and power of the system by storing liquid electrolyte in tanks outside battery system itself. Such a unique framework makes RFBs flexible and fulfills the various demands of grids. During battery operation, redox-active species are …

Research Progresses In Improvement For Low Temperature Performance Of Lithium-Ion Batteries, Yue-Ru Gu, Wei-Min Zhao, Chang-Hu Su, Chuan-Jun Luo, Zhong-Ru Zhang, Xu-Jin Xue, Yong Yang

Journal of Electrochemistry

Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) have become a new research hotspot due to their high energy density and long service life. However, the temperature characteristics, especially the poor performance at low temperatures, have seriously limited their wider applications. In this report, the research progresses in the low temperature performance of LIBs are reviewed. The main existing limitations of LIBs at low temperatures were systematically analyzed, and followed by discussion on the recent improvements in low temperature performances by developing novel cathode, electrolyte, and anode materials. The developments for improving the low temperature performance of LIBs are prospected. The three most important factors …

Synthesis Of Keggin Polyoxometalates Modified Carbon Paste Electrode As A Sensor For Dopamine Detection, Peng-Fei Dong, Na Li, Hai-Yan Zhao, Min Cui, Cong Zhang, Ju-Jie Ren, Xue-Ping Ji

Journal of Electrochemistry

Polyoxometalates, a class of anionic clusters with structure diversity and size variability, make them very attractive in many fields such as electrochemistry, catalysis and medicine. The Co(C₁₅N₆H₁₂)₂[PW₁₂O₃₈]·5H₂O(Co[PW₁₂O₃₈]) modified carbon paste electrode was prepared in this work, and its electrochemical performances as the sensor for dopamine detection were characterized with electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, cyclic voltammetry and differential pulse voltammetry. The preparation conditions and test conditions were optimized respectively. Under the optimized conditions, the POMs modified carbon paste electrode exhibited good selectivity and sensitivity …

Effects Of Sulfur-Containing Additive On Low Temperature Performance Of Graphite Anode, Ze-Li Wu, Ye-Zhen Zheng, Zhong-Ru Zhang, Yong Yang

Journal of Electrochemistry

The low temperature performance of lithium ion battery mainly depends on the graphite anode, and one of the research focuses is to improve the low temperature performance of the anode by additives. In this paper, the effects of different sulfur-containing functional groups such as DTD (ethylene sulfate), 1,3-PS (1,3-propane sultone) and ES (ethylene sulfite) on low temperature performances of artificial graphite materials were systematically studied. The results in density functional theory (DFT) calculations, cyclic voltammetry (CV), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and charge-discharge measurement clearly demonstrated that all three sulfur-containing additives could participate in formation of films on the surface of …

The New Application Of Battery-Electrode Reaction: Decoupled Hydrogen Production In Water Electrolysis, Yuan-Yuan Ma, Zhao-Wei Guo, Yong-Gang Wang, Yong-Yao Xia

Journal of Electrochemistry

Hydrogen has been considered as a promising alternative to unsustainable fossil fuels because of its high calorific value, clean and abundant resources. Water electrolysis combined with renewable energy is regarded as the best way for hydrogen production, which will become the foundation of future hydrogen economy. For the past few years, many efforts have been employed to develop the cheap and high-performance catalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction and oxygen evolution reaction. However,the coupled hydrogen and oxygen evolution and the use of the expensive membrane have greatly restricted the flexibility of the conventional water electrolysis, and hindered the utilization of renewable …

Design Strategies Toward Highly Active Electrocatalysts For Oxygen Evolution Reaction, Tang Tang, Wen-Jie Jiang, Shuai Niu, Jin-Song Hu

Journal of Electrochemistry

Electrocatalytic water splitting is pivotal for efficient and economical production of hydrogen and oxygen gasses. However, the efficiency of the whole device is largely limited by the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) at the anode due to its sluggish kinetics. Thus, it is imperative to develop inexpensive, highly active OER catalysts to lower the reaction barriers. By examining the underlying critical factors for OER performance, this review outlines general principles for designing efficient nanosized OER catalysts, including (1) enhancing the intrinsic activity of active site by electronic modulation, crystallinity modulation, phase control, defect engineering and spin state engineering; (2) designing appropriate …

Interface Model Of Pem Fuel Cell Membrane Steady-Dtate Behavior, Russell L. Edwards, Ayodeji Demuren

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Faculty Publications

Modeling works which simulate the proton-exchange membrane fuel cell with the computational fluid dynamics approach involve the simultaneous solution of multiple, interconnected physics equations for fluid flows, heat transport, electrochemical reactions, and both protonic and electronic conduction. Modeling efforts vary by how they treat the physics within and adjacent to the membrane-electrode assembly (MEA). Certain approaches treat the MEA not as part of the computational domain, but rather an interface connecting the anode and cathode computational domains. These approaches may lack the ability to consistently model catalyst layer losses and MEA ohmic resistance. This work presents an upgraded interface formulation …

Implementation Of Secure Dnp3 Architecture Of Scada System For Smart Grids, Uday Bhaskar Boyanapalli

Master of Science in Computer Science Theses

With the recent advances in the power grid system connecting to the internet, data sharing, and networking enables space for hackers to maliciously attack them based on their vulnerabilities. Vital stations in the smart grid are the generation, transmission, distribution, and customer substations are connected and controlled remotely by the network. Every substation is controlled by a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system which communicates on DNP3 protocol on Internet/IP which has many security vulnerabilities. This research will focus on Distributed Network Protocol (DNP3) communication which is used in the smart grid to communicate between the controller devices. We …

2018 Fall Engr333 Project Assignment, Matthew K. Heun

ENGR 333

The Fall 2018 ENGR333 project focused on renewable energy generation.

I asked the students “What is the largest possible reduction in Calvin’s annual energy costs from a $5M investment in renewable energy?”

Customer

The customer for this project was Russell Bray, Director of Calvin’s Physical Plant.

Complex Coordination Silver Electrocrystallization Mechanism On Glassy Carbon Electrode Surface, Shuai-Shuai Huang, Cheng Liu, Lei Jin, Fang-Zu Yang, Zhong-Qun Tian, Shao-Min. Zhou

Journal of Electrochemistry

Cyclic voltammetry and potential step methods were successfully used to study the electrochemical crystallization mechanism of silver deposition on glassy carbon electrode (GCE) in the practical cyanide-free silver plating electrolyte containing composite complexing agents. Scharifker-Hill (SH) theory was used to fitting the experimental data. The results showed that the electrodeposition of silver is a diffusion controlled irreversible electrode process according to three-dimensional instantaneous nucleation mechanism. When the step potential shifted from -750 mV to -825 mV, the peak deposition current Im was increased, while the induced nucleation time tm shortened. The calculated kinetic parameters showed that the diffusion coefficient (D) …

Preparation And Characterization Of Self-Supporting Flexible Nitrogen-Doped Carbon Fabric Electrodes, Bo Yang, Zhi-Hang Jin, Ya-Ping Zhao, Zai-Sheng Cai

Journal of Electrochemistry

With the wide applications of intelligent wearable devices in various fields, developing a new generation of flexible energy storage devices has become a major challenge for the current technology. As a wide application of wearable flexible substrate, cotton fabric has the advantages over low price, non-toxic and environmental friendly, but the poor conductivity becomes a major problem limiting its development. As a nitrogen-containing conducting polymer, polypyrrole is traditionally used as electrode materials, but poor mechanical performance and cycle stability severely limit its application in electrode materials. In this article, a self-supporting flexible nitrogen-doped carbon fabric electrode was prepared by in …

Hybrid Battery-Capacitor System Based On Liti5O12 Anode And Ptpan Cathode, Xiu-Li Su, Xiao-Li Dong, Yao Liu, Yong-Gang Wang, Ai-Shui Yu

Journal of Electrochemistry

Owing to its high safe, high rate and long life characteristics, lithium titanate (Li₄Ti₅O₁₂) anode material has attracted extensive attention in recent years, and many efforts are being made to develop the Li₄Ti₅O₁₂ based high performance hybrid supercapacitors and Li-ion batteries. Herein, we prepared the organic cathode material polytriphenylamine (PTPAn) through chemical oxidation and polymerization of triphenylamine (TPAn), and investigated its charge storage mechanism and electrode kinetics withthe typical electrochemical methods in an organic electrolyte. It was demonstrated that the PTPAn exhibited the reversible capacity of 85 mA·g^{-1 …}

Electrochemical Performances Of Neodymium Doped Lead Dioxide Composite Anode, Hong-Hui Wang, Ming-Jie Ma, Jie Feng, Huang-Ya Kang, Wen-Jie Huang

Journal of Electrochemistry

Neodymium (Nd) doped titanium (Ti)-based lead dioxide (PbO₂) composite anode was prepared by electrodeposition. The surface morphologies and crystal structures of the as-prepared anodes were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) technique, respectively. The electrochemical performances of PbO₂-Nd anode were studied by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, linear sweep voltammetry and cyclic voltammetry. Additionally, the electrocatalytic activity and durability of PbO₂-Nd anode were investigated through the degradation of simulative refractory organic wastewater of phenol. The results showed that Nd doping made the PbO₂ anode surface structure dense and uniform with smaller …

Assemblies And Properties Of Asymmetric Supercapacitors Based On Wo3/Carbon Cloth, Wen-Ke Shao, Lei Zhao, Chao Liu, Yan-Ying Dong, Yuan-Jie Zhu, Qiu-Fan Wang

Journal of Electrochemistry

The demand for a new generation of flexible, portable, and high-capacity power sources increases rapidly with the development of advanced wearable electronic devices. One dimensional (1D) nanowires structures have been demonstrated as one of the most ideal electrode materials in energy storage systems due to their advantages in both micorstructures and their high surface areas. Here we report a simple process for large-scale fabrication of self-standing composite film electrodes composed of WO₃ nanorods on carbon cloth. In order to improve the energy density of supercapacitor, we assembled an asymmetric supercapacitor using WO₃ nanorods and activated carbon cloth as …

Electrochemical Preparation And Photo-Electro Catalytic Properties Of Flexible Znni/Al-Ldhs/Carbon Fibers Composite, Jing-Jing Tian, Tao Chen, Xing-Chen Bao, Meng-Xu Gao, Ye-Xiao Yu, Si-Yao Peng, Guan-Ping Jin

Journal of Electrochemistry

In this work, a promising flexible composite consisting of zinc (Zn), nickel (Ni) and aluminum (Al) layered double hydroxide coated carbon fibers (ZnNi/Al-LDHs/CFs) was prepared by electrochemical method with convenient recovery and separation. The structures, morphologies, and photo-electro catalytic properties of ZnNi/Al-LDHs/CFs were characterized by X-ray diffraction, infrared spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy, inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy techniques. The excellent photo-electro bifunctional catalytic properties were obtained with the ZnNi/Al-LDHs/CFs composite as compared to that of Zn/Al-LDHs/CFs (photo catalyst) or Ni/Al-LDHs/CFs (electrocatalyst) alone, which could be used in the electro-catalytic oxidations of methanol and …