Power and Energy Commons^™

Alkaline Water Electrolysis For Efficient Hydrogen Production, Wen-Fu Xie, Ming-Fei Shao

Journal of Electrochemistry

Hydrogen production from water electrolysis is a sustainable and environmentally benign strategy in comparison with fossil fuel-based hydrogen. However, this promising technique suffers from the high energy consumption and unsatisfactory cost due to the sluggish kinetics of both half reaction and inferior stability of electrocatalysts. To address this challenge, herein, we present a timely and comprehensive review on advances in alkaline water electrolysis that is already commercialized for large scale hydrogen production. The design principles and strategies with aiming to promote the performance of hydrogen generation are discussed from the view of electrocatalyst, electrode, reaction and system. The challenges and …

Alkaline Seawater Electrolysis At Industrial Level:Recent Progress And Perspective, Tao Zhang, Yi-Pu Liu, Qi-Tong Ye, Hong-Jin Fan

Journal of Electrochemistry

Industrial hydrogen generation through water splitting, powered by renewable energy such as solar, wind and marine, paves a potential way for energy and environment sustainability. However, state-of-the-art electrolysis using high purity water as hydrogen source at an industrial level would bring about crisis of freshwater resource. Seawater splitting provides a practical path to solve potable water shortage, but still faces great challenges for large-scale industrial operation. Here we summarize recent developments in seawater splitting, covering general mechanisms, design criteria for electrodes, and industrial electrolyzer for direct seawater splitting. Multi-objective optimization methods to address the key challenges of active sites, reaction …

A Self-Supported Ru-Cu3P Catalyst Toward Alkaline Hydrogen Evolution, Zi-Xuan Wan, Chao-Hui Wang, Xiong-Wu Kang

Journal of Electrochemistry

Transition metal phosphide (TMP) is a kind of effective catalysts toward hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in alkaline electrolytes. However, the performance of TMP catalysts is strongly limited by water splitting. In this work, we developed a method to prepare a copper foam (CF) supported Ru-doped Cu₃P catalyst (Ru-Cu₃P/CF) by a consecutive growth of Cu(OH)₂ nanoarrays, soaking in RuCl₃ solution and phosphorization. A large surface area was obtained by the self-supported catalysts with the appropriative Ru doping. As an excellent HER catalyst, it exhibited a low overpotential of 95.6 mV at a current density of …

Agglomerative Hierarchical Clustering With Dynamic Time Warping For Household Load Curve Clustering, Fadi Almahamid, Katarina Grolinger

Electrical and Computer Engineering Publications

Energy companies often implement various demand response (DR) programs to better match electricity demand and supply by offering the consumers incentives to reduce their demand during critical periods. Classifying clients according to their consumption patterns enables targeting specific groups of consumers for DR. Traditional clustering algorithms use standard distance measurement to find the distance between two points. The results produced by clustering algorithms such as K-means, K-medoids, and Gaussian Mixture Models depend on the clustering parameters or initial clusters. In contrast, our methodology uses a shape-based approach that combines Agglomerative Hierarchical Clustering (AHC) with Dynamic Time Warping (DTW) to classify …

Digital Twin For Hvac Load And Energy Storage Based On A Hybrid Ml Model With Cta-2045 Controls Capability, Rosemary E. Alden, Evan S. Jones, Huangjie Gong, Abdullah Al Hadi, Dan Ionel

Power and Energy Institute of Kentucky Faculty Publications

Building modeling, specifically heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) load and equivalent energy storage calculations, represent a key focus for decarbonization of buildings and smart grid controls. Widely used white box models, due to their complexity, are too computationally intensive to be employed in high resolution distributed energy resources (DER) platforms without simulation time delays. In this paper, an ultra-fast one-minute resolution Hybrid Machine Learning Model (HMLM) is proposed as part of a novel procedure to replicate white box models as an alternative to widespread experimental big data collection. Synthetic output data from experimentally calibrated EnergyPlus models for three existing …

Study Of Stochastic Market Clearing Problems In Power Systems With High Renewable Integration, Saumya Sakitha Sashrika Ariyarathne

Operations Research and Engineering Management Theses and Dissertations

Integrating large-scale renewable energy resources into the power grid poses several operational and economic problems due to their inherently stochastic nature. The lack of predictability of renewable outputs deteriorates the power grid’s reliability. The power system operators have recognized this need to account for uncertainty in making operational decisions and forming electricity pricing. In this regard, this dissertation studies three aspects that aid large-scale renewable integration into power systems. 1. We develop a nonparametric change point-based statistical model to generate scenarios that accurately capture the renewable generation stochastic processes; 2. We design new pricing mechanisms derived from alternative stochastic programming …

Preface To Special Issue On Water Electrolysis For Hydrogen Production, Li Li, Jin-Song Hu, Zi-Dong Wei

Journal of Electrochemistry

No abstract provided.

Recent Development Of Low Iridium Electrocatalysts Toward Efficient Water Oxidation, Jing Ni, Zhao-Ping Shi, Xian Wang, Yi-Bo Wang, Hong-Xiang Wu, Chang-Peng Liu, Jun-Jie Ge, Wei Xing

Journal of Electrochemistry

Developing high-performance and low-cost electrocatalysts for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is the key to implementing polymer electrolyte membrane water electrolyzer (PEMWE) for hydrogen production. To date, iridium (Ir) is the state-of-the-art OER catalyst, but still suffers from the insufficient activity and scarce earth abundance, which results in high cost both in stack and electricity. Design low-Ir catalysts with enhanced activity and stability that can match the requirements of high current and long-term operation in PEMWE is thus highly desired, which necessitate a deep understanding of acidic OER mechanisms, unique insights of material design strategies, and reliable performance evaluation norm, especially …

The Rapid Preparation Of Efficient Mofeco-Based Bifunctional Electrocatalysts Via Joule Heating For Overall Water Splitting, Ao Zhou, Wei-Jian Guo, Yue-Qing Wang, Jin-Tao Zhang

Journal of Electrochemistry

Water electrolysis is an available way to obtain green hydrogen. The development of highly efficient electrocatalysts is a current research hotspot for water splitting, but it remains challenging. Herein, we demonstrate the synthesis of a robust bifunctional multi-metal electrocatalysts toward water splitting via the rapid Joule-heating conversion of metal precursors. The composition and morphology were well regulated via altering the ratio of metal precursors. In particular, the trimetal MoC/FeO/CoO/carbon cloth (CC) electrode revealed the outstanding bifunctional electrocatalytic performance due to the unique composition and large electrochemical active surface area. Typically, the MoC/FeO/CoO/CC catalyst needed low overpotentials of 121 and 268 …

Perovskite-Type Water Oxidation Electrocatalysts, Xiao Liang, Ke-Xin Zhang, Yu-Cheng Shen, Ke Sun, Lei Shi, Hui Chen, Ke-Yan Zheng, Xiao-Xin Zou

Journal of Electrochemistry

The development of energy conversion/storage technologies can achieve the reliable and stable renewable energy supply, and bring us a sustainable future. As the core half-reaction of many energy-related systems, water oxidation is the bottleneck due to its sluggish kinetics of the four-concerted proton-electron transfer (CPET) process. This necessitates the exploitation of low cost, highly active and stable water oxidation electrocatalysts. Perovskite-type oxides possess diverse crystal structures, flexible compositions and unique electronic properties, enabling them ideal material platform for the optimization of catalytic performance. In this review, we provide a comprehensive summary for the crystal structures, electronic structures and synthetic methods …

A Co Porphyrin With Electron-Withdrawing And Hydrophilic Substituents For Improved Electrocatalytic Oxygen Reduction, Hong-Bo Guo, Ya-Ni Wang, Kai Guo, Hai-Tao Lei, Zuo-Zhong Liang, Xue-Peng Zhang, Rui Cao

Journal of Electrochemistry

Understanding factors that influence the catalyst activity for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is essential for the rational design of efficient ORR catalysts. Regulating catalyst electronic structure is commonly used to fine-tune electrocatalytic ORR activity. However, modifying the hydrophilicity of catalysts has been rarely reported to improve ORR, which happens at the liquid/gas/solid interface. Herein, we report on two Co porphyrins, namely, NO₂-CoP (Co complex of 5,10,15,20-tetrakis(4-nitrophenyl)porphyrin) and 5F-CoP (Co complex of 5,10,15,20-tetrakis(pentafluorophenyl)porphyrin), and their electrocatalytic ORR features. By simultaneously controlling the electronic structure and hydrophilic property of the meso-substituents, the NO₂-CoP showed higher electrocatalytic activity than …

Surface Structure Engineering Of Feni-Based Pre-Catalyst For Oxygen Evolution Reaction: A Mini Review, Jia-Xin Li, Li-Gang Feng

Journal of Electrochemistry

Nitrite, a widespread raw material, is harmful to human health for long-term consumption. At present, the detection methods of nitrite mainly include chemical analysis, fluorescence, ultraviolet spectrophotometry and chromatography. These methods have ideal sensitivity and selectivity, but also have some characteristics: cumbersome operation, expensive equipment and professional personnel. Therefore, the development of a simple and sensitive nitrite assay is of great significance. In this paper, the Au/rGO/FeOOH composite materials, which revealed good synergistic catalytic performance among the three elements in the composite, were prepared by simple hydrothermal method and reduction method for the first time with large specific surface area …

Identifying Opportunities And Priorities For Energy Extension, Drew F. Schiavone

Journal of Extension

An online survey was administered to all educators and specialists within the University of Maryland Extension to assess client-driven opportunities and priorities for energy-related programming, while in-service training evaluations were used to further assess programmatic needs. Results indicate the need for information related to energy conservation and clean energy technology for agricultural and residential clientele. Primary barriers were perceived as the insufficient understanding and high costs associated with clean energy, while experiential participation and firsthand observation were reported as preferred learning methods. These results provide an understanding of how energy-related programming can expand the role and relevancy of Extension.

Developing Positive Thermal Coefficient (Ptc) Heaters For Solar Electric Cooking, Katarina Ivana Brekalo, Andrew Shepherd

Physics

Positive Thermal Coefficients, PTCs, are materials that abruptly change in resistance in response to changes in temperature. The purpose of this experiment is to explore the viability of using the switching type ceramic PTC thermistor as a replacement for current resistive heaters. These types of PTCs have a nonlinear change in resistance with increases in temperature. This device will be used as a temperature-controlling heating element intended to power an Insulated Solar Electric Cooker (ISEC). The ISEC is designed to cook meals throughout the day for impacted communities as an alternative cooking method that doesn’t require biofuel as an energy …

How Will Heat Pumps Affect Electricity Load Profiles For Buildings In Ireland? Empirical Data Used To Model Possible Financial Impacts Facing Consumers, Michael Mcdonald

Conference papers

The current geopolitical situation is certainly challenging the colossal transition to Zero carbon Economy. In fact, in the coming years, the electricity sector will have to find new innovative ways to meet the ever increasing need for energy without the over reliance on fossil fuels and their country of origin. Over the next decade, oil and gas boilers will not be permitted in new buildings in Ireland, in line with the Irish Building Regulations, Technical Guidance Document L – Conservation of Fuel and Energy 2021. This is a major shift in traditional building services methodology and heat technology. …

Products Pricing And Return Strategies For The Dual Channel Retailers, Jian Liu, Xinyue Sun, Yanyan Liu

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This paper analyzed how different return strategies and return rates affect dual-channel retailers' profits and channel pricings. Return can stimulate sales; however, the return has presented significant challenges to retailers. The return has long been studied to maximize profit and pricing; however, the different return strategies for dual-channel retailers affect channel both. This paper aimed to study whether or not dual-channel retailers should allow customers to return items in two channels and whether or not the retailer should contract with the manufacturers and pay extra fees to return products. This study indicated when the retailer should allow customers' returns to …

Facile One-Step Solid-State Synthesis Of Ni-Rich Layered Oxide Cathodes For Lithium-Ion Batteries, Jing-Yue Wang, Rui Wang, Shi-Qi Wang, Li-Fan Wang, Chun Zhan

Journal of Electrochemistry

Nickel-rich layered oxide is one of the dominate cathode materials in the lithium ion batteries, due to its high specific energy density meeting the range requirement of the electric vehicles. Typically, the commercial Ni-rich layered oxides are synthesized from co-precipitated precursors, while precision control is required in the co-precipitation process to ensure the atomic level mixing of the cations such as Ni, Co and Mn, et.al. In this work, a one-step solid-state method was successfully applied to synthesize the Ni-rich layered oxide materials with ultra-high Ni content. By choosing the nickel hydroxides as the precursor with layered structure similar to …

Quantitative Lithium Composite As 3d Lithium Foam Anode For Lithium Metal Battery, Hu-Dong Li, Wei-Shang Jia, Xin-Xiu Yan, Yao-Yue Yang

Journal of Electrochemistry

Lithium (Li) metal as an anode material for batteries has extremely high specific capacity and extremely low redox potential, which can significantly improve the energy density of the battery. However, the main problems faced by the use of Li metal anodes are Li dendrite growth, interfacial side reaction and volumetric change of electrode. Herein, a strategy to prepare the three-dimensional (3D) Li foam by combining 3D scaffold with quantitative Li was proposed to suppress Li dendrites growth and alleviate electrode volumetric change. The 3D Li foam facilitated the efficient utilization of Li metal by suppressing the Li dendrite growth, mitigating …

Low-Crystallinity And Heterostructured Aupt-Ru@Cnts As Highly Efficient Multifunctional Electrocatalyst, Tuan-Jie Gan, Jian-Ping Wu, Shi Liu, Wen-Jun Ou, Ling Bin, Xiong-Wu Kang

Journal of Electrochemistry

The catalytic activity of the catalysts is strongly dependent on the structure of the catalysts, and the exploration of their correlation and structure-controlled synthesis of the high-performance catalysts are always at the central. Currently, platinum (Pt) is the optimum catalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and alcohol oxidation reaction, while ruthenium (Ru) behaves as the champion catalyst for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) during water splitting. Preparing alloy catalysts with these precious metals can modulate the catalytic activity of these catalysts from the perspective of strain effect, ensemble effect and ligand effect. Here, we developed a strategy …

Optimized Electrochemical Performance Of Si@C Prepared By Hydrothermal Reaction And Glucose Carbon Source, Si Chen, Song-Sheng Zheng, Lei-Ming Zheng, Ye-Han Zhang, Zhao-Lin Wang

Journal of Electrochemistry

Silicon (Si) has been considered as the potential material for the next-generation lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) for its high capacity (4200 mAh·g^-1, Li₂₂Si₅) and suitable working voltage (about 0.25 V vs. Li/Li⁺). However, the cycling stability and electrochemical performance of Si anode become significant challenges because of low intrinsic conductivity and huge volume variation (about 400%) during cycling processes. In addition, the repeated formation and destruction of surface solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) film will continuously consume the electrolyte and cause damage to LIBs. Carbon (C) materials, such as graphite, carbon spheres and tubes, …

Short-Term Electricity Price Point And Probabilistic Forecasts, Chenxu Zhang

Theses and Dissertations

Accurate short-term electricity price forecasts are essential to all electricity market participants. Generation companies adopt price forecasts to hedge generation shortage risks; load serving entities use price forecasts to purchase energy with low cost; and trading companies utilize price forecasts to arbitrage between markets.

Currently, researches on point forecast mainly focus on exploring periodic patterns of electricity price in time domain. However, frequency domain enables us to identify more information within price data to facilitate forecast. Besides, price spike forecast has not been fully studied in the existing works. Therefore, we propose a short-term electricity price forecast framework that analyzes …

Modeling Supercritical Fluids And Fabricating Electret Films To Address Dielectric Challenges In High-Power-Density Systems, Farhina Haque

Theses and Dissertations

Wide bandgap (WBG) devices and power electronic converters (PEC) that enable the dynamic control of energy and high-power density designs inevitably contain defects including sharp edges, triple points, and cavities, which result in local electric field enhancements. The intensified local electric stresses cause either immediate dielectric breakdown or partial discharge (PD) that erodes electrical insulators and accelerates device aging. With the goal of addressing these dielectric challenges emerging in power-dense applications, this dissertation focuses on 1) modeling the dielectric characteristics of supercritical fluids (SCFs), which is a new dielectric medium with high dielectric strength and high cooling capability; and 2) …

Advances In Power System Operation And Optimization, You Lin

Electrical Engineering Theses and Dissertations

The modern power system has witnessed an increasing penetration of distributed energy resources and modern loads with variable frequency drives. The increasing complexity brings great challenges to modern power system operations. Significant efforts have been made to develop more accurate power system operation and optimization methods. The tradeoff between computation and the model structure makes the problem nontrivial to solve and analyze. Enabled by the wide deployment of PMUs and advanced machine learning algorithms, we improve the conventional power system operation and optimization techniques by improving the accuracy of power system measurements, implementing new power system modeling structures, and performing …

Data-Driven Distributed Modeling, Operation, And Control Of Electric Power Distribution Systems, Hasala Dharmawardena

All Dissertations

The power distribution system is disorderly in design and implementation, chaotic in operation, large in scale, and complex in every way possible. Therefore, modeling, operating, and controlling the distribution system is incredibly challenging. It is required to find solutions to the multitude of challenges facing the distribution grid to transition towards a just and sustainable energy future for our society. The key to addressing distribution system challenges lies in unlocking the full potential of the distribution grid. The work in this dissertation is focused on finding methods to operate the distribution system in a reliable, cost-effective, and just manner.

In …

Hierarchical And Distributed Architecture For Large-Scale Residential Demand Response Management, Pramod Herath Mudiyanselage

All Dissertations

The implementation of smart grid brings several challenges to the power system. The ‘prosumer’ concept, proposed by the smart grid, allows small-scale ‘nano-grids’ to buy or sell electric power at their own discretion. One major problem in integrating prosumers is that they tend to follow the same pattern of generation and consumption, which is un-optimal for grid operations. One tool to optimize grid operations is demand response (DR). DR attempts to optimize by altering the power consumption patterns. DR is an integrated tool of the smart grid. FERC Order No. 2222 caters for distributed energy resources, including demand response resources, …

Hybrid Smart Transformer For Enhanced Power System Protection Against Dc With Advanced Grid Support, Moazzam Nazir

All Dissertations

The traditional grid is rapidly transforming into smart substations and grid assets incorporating advanced control equipment with enhanced functionalities and rapid self-healing features. The most important and strategic equipment in the substation is the transformer and is expected to perform a variety of functions beyond mere voltage conversion and isolation. While the concept of smart solid-state transformers (SSTs) is being widely recognized, their respective lifetime and reliability raise concerns, thus hampering the complete replacement of traditional transformers with SSTs. Under this scenario, introducing smart features in conventional transformers utilizing simple, cost-effective, and easy to install modules is a highly desired …

Evaluation Of Single Phase Smart Pv Inverter Functions In Unbalanced Residential Distribution Systems, Darren Symonette

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the United States, smart PV inverters integrated with residential distribution systems are becoming a more common occurrence. With integration of smart PV inverters, power utilities are experiencing an increase of number of operations with regards to switched capacitor banks, voltage regulators and on load tap changers. These increases can lead to excess wear and tear on the devices causing power utilities to perform unwanted replacement and maintenance. However, smart PV inverters when controlled under specific functions can enable these inverters to provide reactive power and voltage control which in turn lowers the number of operations for switched capacitor banks, …

Protection Of Microgrids: A Scalable And Topology Agnostic Scheme With Self-Healing Dynamic Reconfiguration, Phani Harsha Gadde

All Dissertations

Momentum towards realizing the smart grid will continue to result in high penetration of renewable fed Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) in the Electric Power System (EPS). These DERs will most likely be Inverter Based Resources(IBRs) and will be an integral part of the distribution system in the near future. The drive towards resiliency with these IBRs will enable a modular topology where several microgrids are tied together, operating synchronously to form the future EPS at the distribution level.

Since the microgrids can evolve from existing distribution feeders, they will be unbalanced in load, phases, and feeder impedances. A typical control …

Controller Platform Design And Demonstration For An Electric Aircraft Propulsion Driv, Rosten Sweeting

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

With the growth in the aerospace industry there has been a trend to optimize the performance of an aircraft by reducing fuel consumption and operational cost. Recent advancements in the field of power electronics have pushed towards the concepts of hybrid electric aircraft also known as more electrical aircrafts. In this work, a custom controller board for an electric aircraft propulsion drive was designed to drive a permanent magnet synchronous motor. Design of the controller board required knowledge of the topology selection and power module selections. Simulations of the system were performed using MATLAB/Simulink to analyze the overall performance of …

Constraint-Aware, Scalable, And Efficient Algorithms For Multi-Chip Power Module Layout Optimization, Imam Al Razi

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Moving towards an electrified world requires ultra high-density power converters. Electric vehicles, electrified aerospace, data centers, etc. are just a few fields among wide application areas of power electronic systems, where high-density power converters are essential. As a critical part of these power converters, power semiconductor modules and their layout optimization has been identified as a crucial step in achieving the maximum performance and density for wide bandgap technologies (i.e., GaN and SiC). New packaging technologies are also introduced to produce reliable and efficient multichip power module (MCPM) designs to push the current limits. The complexity of the emerging MCPM …