• Energy Research

Pakistan is an energy-deficient country. This paper accentuates the importance and challenges of new era technologies. The renewable energy sources like wind energy, solar energy, geothermal energy, ocean energy, biomass energy and fuel cell technology can be used to overcome energy shortage in Pakistan. Renewable energy sources and technologies have the potential to provide solutions to the long-standing energy problems being faced by the developing countries. The expansion of existing energy resources and exploration of new sources is an important exercise to be considered in order to sustain their development initiatives.

Abstract This paper presents the diagnostic results of single polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell assemblies characterized by polarization curves. Single PEM fuel cell assemblies were investigated through accelerated voltage cycling test at different values of relative humidity. The fuel cells are tested at different humidity level. The cells are discussed in this paper with analysis results at different relative humidity at atmospheric pressure. This represents a nearly fully humidified, a moderately humidified, and a low humidified condition, respectively. This technique is useful for diagnosing the main sources of loss in MEA development work, especially for high temperature/low relative humidity operation where several sources of loss are present simultaneously. All the fuel cells showed better performance in terms of limiting current density value through polarization curves when oxygen was fed to the cathode side of each cell instead of air. The results indicate that the performance of the fuel cell could be depressed significantly by decreasing RH from 100 to 33%. Decrease in RH can result in slower electrode kinetics, including electrode reaction and mass diffusion rates, and higher membrane resistance.

A novel fuel cell device based on integrating the Schottky junction effect with the electrochemical principle is designed, constructed, and verified through experiments. It is found that the Schott ...

Being located in the Sun Belt, Pakistan is rich in sunlight and receives a high mean irradiation. This condition is ideal for harnessing Sun’s power for solar energy applications by using solar reflectors. In spite of possessing such a rich solar irradiation area, Pakistan is facing energy crisis because most of the energy resources are still unexploited. This paper discusses the energy crisis of Pakistan and provides the solution by putting efforts into solar energy technology, as well as devising innovative ways to incorporate solar reflectors into a solar panel and get more power generation out of it by a diminutive modification. Reflectors are used in the solar technology to concentrate the sunlight onto the solar panels. They employ glass as a base material with a silver coating and a protective layer over it. They elevate the energy input of solar panels as the whole solar spectrum is reflected on them. Materials with more reflective properties are needed to be used to increase the reflectivity and efficiency of solar reflectors. In Pakistan, no significant work is done till now towards the development of solar reflectors. If solar reflectors are used with the solar panels, then their efficiency as well as production from the solar panels will be maximized.

Fuel cell technology holds the combination of benefits, which are barely offered by any other energy generating technology. Because the fuel used in this technology is found in abundance in nature and can also be renewed/sustained. Pakistan is blessed with renewable energy resources which are suitable for fuel cell technology. Therefore, fuel cell technology offers a great opportunity to meet the demand of energy and for the sustainable development of Pakistan. The energy research group at COMSATS Institute of Information Technology (CIIT), Lahore has made efforts to study the technical aspects of fuel cell technology and its commercial benefits. The research group is interested in finding ways and means of generating and storing the energy produced by using fuel cells. In this paper, the research activities on fuel cell technology in Pakistan have been reviewed and it is also discussed how this technology can resolve the current energy crises in Pakistan and can be the source of sustainable energy. It has been also reviewed that the country would greatly benefit from fuel cells and fuel cell hybrid system (environmental friendly technology), which could be the best solution for electricity production as well for automobile industry.

Abstract In present work, perovskite structured proton conducting electrolyte materials BaZr0.8Y0.2 (BZY), BaZr0.8Gd0.2 (BZGd) and BaZr0.8Sm0.2 (BZSm) synthesized by cost effective combustion method are investigated for intermediate temperature solid oxide fuel cell (IT-SOFC). The synthesized BZY, BZGd and BZSm materials are sintered at low temperature (1150 °C) and the effect of low sintering temperature on electrolyte properties are also explored. Microstructure, surface morphology, elemental composition, functional group and weight loss are studied using different characterization techniques like XRD, SEM, EDX, FTIR and TGA. XRD shows cubic perovskite structure of all synthesized materials. Secondary phase of Y2O3 is observed in BZY while BaO is observed in BZGd and BZSm due to low sintering temperature. SEM micrographs reveals dense microstructure of BZSm compared to BZY and BZGd. EDX analysis confirms the required material composition within all samples with no impurities. FTIR shows the presence of hydroxyl group and metal oxides and it is observed that BZY exhibit more structural symmetry compared to BZSm and BZGd. Highest conductivity observed ( 2.2 × 10 − 3 S / c m ) for BZY due to its structural symmetry and characteristic to prefer B-site of perovskite. Also significant power densities of 0.34 Wcm−2, 0.24 Wcm−2 and 0.32 Wcm−2 for BZY, BZGd and BZSm electrolytes based cells at 650 °C implies that BZY, BZGd and BZSm can be used as IT-SOFC electrolytes.

Clean energy devices are essential in today’s environment to combat climate change and work towards sustainable development. In this paper, the potential materials A2Ce2O7−δ (A = La+3, Nd+3, Bi+3) were analyzed for clean energy devices, specifically for conventional and single-component solid oxide fuel cells (SC-SOFCs). The wet chemical route has been followed for the preparation of samples. X-ray diffraction patterns showed that all three samples exhibited a defected fluorite cubic structure. It also revealed the presence of dopants in the ceria, which was confirmed by the fingerprint region of FTIR. The optical behavior, fuel cell performance and electrochemical behavior were studied by UV–vis, fuel cell testing apparatus and EIS, respectively. The SEM results showed that all samples had irregular polygons. In Raman spectra, the F2g mode corresponding to the space group (Fm3m) confirms the fluorite structure. The Raman spectra showed that A2Ce2O7−δ (A = La+3, Nd+3, Bi+3) have different trends. The conventional fuel cell performance showed that the maximum power density of Bi2Ce2O7 was 0.65 Wcm−2 at 600 °C. The performance of A2Ce2O7−δ (A = La3+, Nd3+, Bi3+) as a single-component fuel cell revealed that Nd2Ce2O7−δ is the best choice with semiconductors conductors ZnO and NCAL. The highest power density (Pmax) of the Nd2Ce2O7/ZnO was 0.58 Wcm−2, while the maximum power output (Pmax) of the Nd2Ce2O7/NCAL was 0.348 Wcm−2 at 650 °C. All the samples showed good agreement with the ZnO as compared to NCAL for SC-SOFCs.