Event

The Department of Physics hosts a seminar by Ms. Kerrilee Stewart, titled “Development of Nanocomposite Polymer Electrolytes for Fuel Cell Applications.” This seminar will take place on Thursday 10^th March, 2011, at 2 pm, at the Faculty of Science and Agriculture (FSA), Rm. 413. 

Abstract

With the dawn of the green revolution being fuelled by fears that the world’s energy habits are contributing to the demise of our planet, the onus is on the development of renewable energy resources to meet our current demands. We strive at the same time to eliminate many of the problems associated with the use of these non-renewable energy sources. Fuel Cell is one of the alternate/renewable energy technologies with the potential to overcome the problems produced by non-renewable resources. The polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell is thus called because the membrane used in the fuel cell is a polymer that allows the passage of only specific ions through it. The first step in the process of fuel cells replacing non-renewable forms of energy lies in the development of new polymer electrolyte membranes in order to replace the conventionally used Nafion. One way of developing better polymer membranes is through the inclusion of inorganic oxide nano-composites. Another way involves the development of novel polymer materials. This seminar outlines the work already done towards successful development of new polymer electrolytes and future work to be attempted.