Faculty Focus: Prof. Enrico Traversa
Sustainable Development Through Solid Oxide Fuel Cells
“The thrust of the University is a perfect fit with my ideas because the priorities are energy, environment, water and food” said new faculty member Professor Enrico Traversa, from the Material Science and Engineering program. Through his affiliation with the Solar and Photovoltaics Engineering Research Center, Prof. Traversa’s research focuses on sustainable development through nanostructured materials for environment, energy, healthcare and solid oxide fuel cells.
A major aspect of his research is developing next generation solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) based on chemically stable proton conducting electrolytes. Conventional solid oxide fuel cells are characterized by high operating temperatures, around 900-1000 degrees Celsius, which limits their potential to be used on portable electronic devices and hinders long-term stability as well as cost-effectiveness. Prof. Traversa’s approach to reducing solid oxide fuel cells’ working temperature is to use chemically stable proton conductor oxides as electrolytes as opposed to oxygen-ion conductor electrolytes.
Developing Alternative Materials for a Sustainable Future
“We are developing proton-conducting materials because, as opposed to oxygen ions, protons are smaller and move in an easier way. By increasing the temperature, the charge carriers move faster and the activation energy needed for achieving this is lower for protons” as Prof. Traversa explained. Also, the fact that conventional materials are not chemically stable causes them to react to carbon dioxide and water. He adds: “That’s not really suitable for practical applications. So now we’re developing chemically stable materials and have achieved success in developing good electrolytes. Chemically stable materials existed before but the problem was that they were not processable. So it was very difficult to obtain dense materials and avoid a loss in conductivity."
Prof. Traversa’s solution addresses the problem by making processable materials with suitable conductivity and chemical stability. While this breakthrough has been demonstrated in a lab setting, his team’s next target is to increase the scale and move into commercial devices. "The main target is to develop these proton-conductive materials for making large-scale solid oxide fuel cells for widespread applications", he added.
Another research focus actively pursued by Prof. Traversa involves biomaterials. He is particularly interested in the development of scaffold biomaterials which can be used to repair or regenerate damaged tissues. By combining cells from the human body with biomaterials, tissue engineering can be applied to cardiology so the target is developing pieces of heart. “Stem cells can be taken directly from the patient himself, eliminating problems of rejection from transplant. So it would be a homologous source of cells and not heterologous” as Prof. Traversa explained.
In addition, his team is finding that simple oxides in the form of nanoparticles can act as antioxidant drugs. This has the potential of treating diseases that are dependent on oxidative stress. Degenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, and even the process of aging can be better understood through this research. "We are very excited about this part of the research" said Prof. Traversa.Further Information
- Solar and Photovoltaics Engineering Research Center