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4TH YOUNG INVENTORS AWARDS: WINNERS: SILVER Fuel-Cell Thrift A revolutionary carbon material may make the mass production of some fuel cells feasible By Kim Jung Min/SEOUL Issue cover-dated January 22, 2004 REMEMBER THIS YOUNG MAN: Han Sang Jin. A doctoral student in applied chemistry at Seoul National University, Han may one day be remembered as the man who closed an enormous research gap for his nation in a technology that could change the world. The technology involves making fuel cells that could power everything from cars to mobile phones without producing pollution. Fuel cells have existed for years, but the cost of producing them has been prohibitive. Han's contribution is to create a carbon-material production technology that may result in dramatic manufacturing-cost reductions. His achievement, which Han terms the "synthesis of new carbon materials for fuel-cell electrodes," has received the Silver Award in the REVIEW's 4th Young Inventors Awards. A fuel cell operates like a battery in its delivery of electricity. The difference is that while a battery stores electricity that's been generated elsewhere, a fuel cell is like a tiny factory that produces power as needed and thus needn't be recharged or discarded when it is spent. A fuel cell consists of two electrodes sandwiched around an electrolyte. Electricity is generated from an electrochemical reaction in which oxygen and hydrogen combine. Although fuel-cell technology is still in its infancy from an industrial standpoint, due mostly to the cost of the materials and the difficulty of safely and inexpensively delivering hydrogen to the cell, Han is optimistic. The fact that fuel cells have so much potential should continue to drive improvements, he says. "The technology will bring so much benefit to countries like Korea that must rely on imports," he says. The present high cost of producing fuel cells is a big hurdle. Platinum, an expensive precious metal, is widely used as a catalyst on some fuel-cell electrodes. But the carbon materials created by Han and his research team improve the efficiency of such cells, so that they can produce the same amount of electricity with only one-sixth as much platinum. In 2002, after three-and-a-half years of trial and error, Han and his research team finally achieved the breakthrough they had been seeking to improve the performance and stability of fuel cells using their new carbon material. There have been numerous kinds of fuel cells developed, many of which won't need Han's new material. But he has developed a material that allows one especially promising kind of fuel cell to produce the same energy much less expensively than before. "It's exceedingly simple and inexpensive. That is a big breakthrough," says Hyeon Taeg Hwan, who supervised the project as a professor at Seoul National University's School of Chemical Engineering. Hyeon is thrilled. He believes the new carbon material could enable South Korea to stay a step ahead of its global competitors in the development of fuel-cell technology. Many industry experts believe that the nation lags about five to seven years behind the United States and Japan. Han filed a U.S. patent application in October 2003. He says two local companies have shown interest in investing in the technology and one global battery company approached them. Han says he's always wanted to work in a field of science that could produce tangible benefits for his country. South Korea is the sixth-largest crude-oil consumer and the fourth-largest crude-oil importer in the world. "Renewable energy is a hot field. And Korea should be more serious about developing a new source of energy than anyone else in the world," says the 28-year-old. Han wants to continue his research and would like to focus on the creation of
tiny machines and devices, known as nanotechnology. But he says he is uncertain
about the prospects in South Korea for professional researchers like himself.
"The reason why young Korean students are shying away from science and
engineering is the relatively low pay and . . . lower social status. It's
important to give incentives to young students to study engineering and science
and to boost the morale of scientists," he says. No ResultsPlease supply at least one search term. Advertise on feer.com and in FEER |
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