In today's world, the interests of energy generators and utility companies in various fields (energy storage and generation, distributed “smart” and “green” energy, electric transport) are not limited to a mere race of creating lithium-based electrochemical energy storage units having features close to the physical limit. Virtually every self-respecting company extends its interests to the use of hydrogen as an energy-dense raw material for generating electricity in fuel cells, and is considering the use of such cells, primarily in transportation (from electric cars and quadcopters to diesel locomotives) and in mobile and autonomous hydrogen-fueled power plants. This is not only due to the higher efficiency of hydrogen fuel cells as compared to other ways of generating energy (internal combustion engines, solar and wind power plants), but also meets our common goal of preserving and restoring the planet's ecology.
In the research work of Global SO much attention is paid to the use of hydrogen, in particular, research on the following topics was conducted:
- Preliminary evaluation of prospects of using carbon nanomaterials (CNMs) synthesized with the use of Global SO process to improve the efficiency of hydrogen fuel cells;
- Studies aimed at optimizing characteristics of membrane-electrode units (MEUs) of hydrogen fuel cells using carbon nanomaterials (CNMs);
- Design and production of samples of membrane-electrode units using carbon nanomaterials (CNMs), conducting research tests;
- Development of the production process for samples of membrane-electrode units using carbon nanomaterials.
In the conducted research works we obtained the results, which allow us to confidently declare the prospects of CNMs use in hydrogen fuel cells, and namely:
- the efficiency of using CNMs in hydrogen fuel cell production process and the possibility of reducing the content of expensive platinum (Pt) due to this, while increasing the specific power of MEUs was confirmed;
- the optimum composition of the electrode material was selected (which led to twofold decrease in the use of platinum (Pt));
- the production process for samples of MEUs using CNMs was perfected.
Producing pure hydrogen is not a cheap process in itself, so reducing the cost of hydrogen fuel cells while improving power characteristics is a significant contribution to the development of hydrogen energy.