With the industry moving towards a more sustainable future, the big question has recently been electric or hydrogen?
While both boast specific advantages, researchers at UCLA have developed a way to optimise hydrogen fuel cell technology and ensure truckies can stay on the road for longer.
The new catalyst design can push projected hydrogen fuel cell lifespans to 200,000 hours, nearly seven times the US Department of Energy’s target for 2050.
Published in Nature Nanotechnology, the research marks a significant step toward the widespread adoption of fuel cell technology in heavy-duty vehicles, allowing trucks to travel long distances without frequent charging stops.
Although medium and heavy-duty trucks make up only about 5 per cent of vehicles on the road, they are responsible for nearly a quarter of greenhouse gas automobile emissions. Hydrogen fuel cells can be refuelled as quickly as traditional gasoline, offering a cleaner, more efficient alternative.
One of the biggest advantages of hydrogen is the cost of establishing infrastructure compared to its electric counterpart. Building hydrogen-refuelling infrastructure would likely require less investment than establishing an electric vehicle-charging network across the country.
Fuel cells are also significantly lighter than batteries, requiring less energy to move the vehicles. With a projected power output of 1.08 watts per square centimetre, fuel cells featuring the new catalyst can deliver the same performance as conventional batteries that weigh up to eight times more.
The biggest challenge in the hydrogen space has been the slow chemical reaction for the energy conversion, requiring a catalyst to achieve practical speeds.
While platinum-alloy catalysts have historically delivered superior chemical reaction, the alloying elements leach out over time, diminishing catalytic performance. The degradation is further accelerated by the demanding voltage cycles required to power heavy-duty vehicles.
“Heavy-duty fuel cell systems must withstand harsh operating conditions over long periods, making durability a key challenge,” UCLA Samueli professor of materials science and engineering Yu Huang says.
“Our pure platinum catalyst, enhanced with a graphene-based protection strategy, overcomes the shortcomings of conventional platinum alloys by preventing the leaching of alloying elements.
“This innovation ensures that the catalyst remains active and robust, even under the demanding conditions typical of long-haul applications.”
The new catalyst exhibited a power loss of less than 1.1 per cent after an accelerated stress test involving 90,000 square-wave voltage cycles designed to simulate years of real-world driving, where even a 10 per cent loss is typically considered excellent.
These results project fuel cell lifetimes exceeding 200,000 hours, far surpassing the DOE’s target of 30,000 hours for heavy-duty proton exchange membrane fuel cell systems.
UCLA’s Technology Development Group has filed a patent on the technology.